tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227973742024-03-07T03:33:23.749-05:00Motor City Liberal"I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell."
Harry S. TrumanMotor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.comBlogger6741125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-40297190120235209982022-09-02T13:09:00.004-04:002022-09-02T13:09:51.410-04:00As a climate-fueled heat wave stresses California's electric grid, right-wing media are disingenuously attacking electric vehicles<p> <span style="font-family: georgia;">TED MACDONALD Via Media Matters</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">A</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/31/1120235876/excessive-heat-warning-california-west" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">potentially record-breaking heat wave</a><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">is set to blanket much of California and the Western U.S. throughout the Labor Day weekend. In preparation for this event, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://krcrtv.com/news/local/governor-newsom-declares-state-of-emergency-flex-alert-issued" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">declared a state of emergency</a><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">, and grid operators in the state are urging residents to conserve power during peak hours. This also means advising residents to</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/californians-told-not-charge-electric-cars-gas-car-sales-ban-1738398" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">avoid charging electric vehicles</a><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">during peak hours. </span></span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Right-wing media are using this potentially deadly heat event to mock both electric vehicles and California’s new rule that would <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/25/1119381508/california-ban-gas-cars-2035" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035</a>. These attacks are littered with falsehoods about both EVs and what the gas car ban intends to do. At the same time, these attempts just distract from the fact that this event could result in <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/Death-Valley-heat-wave-17408610.php" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">California logging one of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth</a>.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The main focus of reporting on this event should be climate change, which is making heat waves such as this one <a href="https://www.c2es.org/content/heat-waves-and-climate-change/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">more frequent and more severe</a>, with <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/07/29/is-climate-change-causing-the-heatwave-heres-the-simple-science-behind-europes-scorching-w" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">one climate scientist stating</a> recently that “I think we can very confidently say that every heatwave occurring today has been made more intense and more likely because of climate change.” Climate-fueled extreme heat events are also straining California’s power grid. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/business/energy-environment/california-electricity-shortage.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">The New York Times</a> notes that the grid situation “could be worsened if a heat wave causes residents to turn to air-conditioners for comfort en masse, driving up energy demand.”</span></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">California is not banning all gas cars — a point that has apparently been lost by some right-wing media </span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On August 25, California regulators <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01092022/california-just-banned-gas-powered-cars-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">introduced a landmark rule</a> that would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and light trucks by 2035. The rule applies only to the sale of new gasoline cars — it does not affect the sale of used cars; it does not affect gas-powered cars bought before 2035; and it does not affect out-of-state gasoline cars driving into the state. The year 2035, of course, is more than a decade away, a time when <a href="https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/ev-adoptions-rosiest-forecast-yet" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">electric vehicles are projected to make up more than half</a> of global car sales. Additionally, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/business/energy-environment/electric-vehicles-automakers.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">The New York Times</a> reports that major auto companies are already “receptive” to the rule. Many of these companies <a href="https://www.forbes.com/wheels/news/automaker-ev-plans/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">intend to be mostly or fully electric</a> by 2035.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These facts have not stopped right-wing media from lying about the car rule, or forgetting to include some key information about the rule when discussing the new gas-powered car ban in relation to California’s upcoming heat wave. For example, a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-leader-slams-ca-power-operator-discouraging-ev-charging-during-heatwave-vote-ban-gas-cars" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Foxnews.com headline</a> from August 31 reads “GOP leader slams CA power operator for discouraging EV charging during heat wave after vote to ban gas cars.” Additionally, a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-fun-in-the-california-sun-electric-vehicles-charging-heat-wave-energy-blackouts-11661984434?mod=opinion_lead_pos2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Wall Street Journal editorial</a> from the same day reads “No Fun in the California Sun: The state says don’t charge the EVs it will soon force you to buy.” California is not forcing people to buy electric cars, just instituting a ban on the sale of new gas-powered cars. This falsehood was also suggested by Rob Schmitt on the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993206" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">August 31 edition</a> of Newsmax’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rob Schmitt Tonight</em>, when he stated, “Today the state of California sent out a powerful message begging residents for their compliance with a very hot Labor Day weekend ahead: Please keep your thermostat at 78 degrees and don't charge your electric car in the evening. That from the same state that's forcing you to buy an electric car.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">One tweet from the conservative Hodgetwins has over 50,000 likes and implies that California is completely banning all gas-powered cars by 2035:</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 500px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1564846619144720385" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1564846619144720385&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Ffox-news%2Fclimate-fueled-heat-wave-stresses-californias-electric-grid-right-wing-media-are&sessionId=fd98986e13b9ea883984b75c642011843918bf8d&siteScreenName=mmfa&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 338px; margin: 0px auto; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meanwhile, Fox News personality Larry Elder also tweeted misleading information about the car rule:</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 500px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565101677736337410" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1565101677736337410&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Ffox-news%2Fclimate-fueled-heat-wave-stresses-californias-electric-grid-right-wing-media-are&sessionId=fd98986e13b9ea883984b75c642011843918bf8d&siteScreenName=mmfa&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 321px; margin: 0px auto; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fox News has also jumped in on this discourse. The network has been banging the drums against the California plan since it first came out; Laura Ingraham devoted her opening monologue to it on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992924" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">August 24</a>, and on August 30, Tucker Carlson used the<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-californias-leaders-know-nothing-energy" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;"> first 17 minutes of his show</a> to bash the car rule and connect it to California’s grid issues. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This misleading chyron ran on the September 1 edition of T<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">he Faulkner Focus</em>:</span></p></div></div><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" data-align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; margin-left: -49.9531px; margin-right: -49.9531px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><img alt="Faulkner_Focus_Fake" height="576" loading="lazy" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2022/09/02/the-faulkner-focus-11_00_02-am.jpg?VersionId=DrkynQUCP3iZyKtlxMJ4WnTLjiX0Yd1k&itok=0whSGdAu" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; width: 749.422px;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="1024" /><figcaption class="media-player__caption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Again: California is not banning all gas cars, and the ban on new gas cars will take place 13 years from now.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993208" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">September 1 edition</a> of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Outnumbered</em>, Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone implied that all gas cars are being banned in the state, stating, “It looks like California's going to need to pump the brakes on their electric vehicle plan. Just days after the Golden State regulators banned the sale of gas cars by 2035, a heat wave is now straining California’s power grid and forcing the Dem-led city to urge residents to not charge their electric vehicles from 4-9 p.m.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">On the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993209" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">September 1 edition</a> of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America’s Newsroom</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-medias-favorite-climate-contrarians-go-fox-shows-bash-bidens-climate-plan" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">climate contrarian guest</a> Michael Shellenberger broadly stated, “It was quite ironic that six days after the state voted to ban internal combustion engines, the state grid operator warned that people should not be charging their cars because of a risk of blackouts.”</span></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">California is neither banning people from charging EVs nor urging them not to do it at all; it is only asking them not to charge EVs during peak hours</span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This last Shellenberger statement brings up a larger point about California’s power grid message: The state is not banning people from charging their electric vehicles; it’s only <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/californians-told-not-charge-electric-cars-gas-car-sales-ban-1738398" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">urging</a> them not to do it during peak demand hours:</span></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="block-quote__quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In a news release, the California ISO said it expects that it will issue calls for voluntary conservation of electricity through Flex alerts over the long weekend.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">"During a Flex Alert, consumers are urged to reduce energy use from 4-9 p.m. when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available," the release said.</span></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">California made the <a href="https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/07/03/can-californians-charge-electric-cars-during-summer-heat/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">same request last year</a>, and data shows that most EV owners don’t need to charge their EVs during peak hours:</span></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="block-quote__quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Most electric car drivers top off their battery regularly rather than charging it from empty to full. Therefore, many cars are equipped with charging timers and only require a few hours of charging each day, so Californians can easily avoid charging vehicles during peak hours.</span></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some of the right-wing media discussion ignores this fact. A Daily Wire <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyWireNews/status/1564985001162076160" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">headline reads</a> “California Asks Residents To Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles Due To Blackout Risk Days After Unveiling New Gas Car Ban.” </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Some Twitter takes from conservative media personalities also contain this falsehood:</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 500px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565022160564981761" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1565022160564981761&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Ffox-news%2Fclimate-fueled-heat-wave-stresses-californias-electric-grid-right-wing-media-are&sessionId=fd98986e13b9ea883984b75c642011843918bf8d&siteScreenName=mmfa&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 273px; margin: 0px auto; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Right-wing media are continuing their long-running crusade of attacking electric vehicles and ignoring the climate crisis</span></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fox News in particular has a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-friends/myths-and-facts-about-electric-cars" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">long-running campaign</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/laura-ingrahams-latest-attempt-undermine-investments-green-energy-reveals-foxs" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">against</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-bend-facts-inflation-reduction-acts-new-ev-tax-credit" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">electric vehicles</a> and ignores the evidence that the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/business/bloombergnef-electric-vehicle-report/index.html#:~:text=Report%3A%20Electric%20vehicle%20sales%20will,already%20past%20their%20peak%20%2D%20CNN" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">vehicle market appears favorable to EVs</a> in the next few years. (It could also <a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/all-electric-car-and-truck-sales-by-2035-would-save-27-trillion-but-will/598606/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">save consumers trillions of dollars</a>.) The example above shows that Fox personalities seem to want their viewers to believe that the ban on new gas-powered cars in California is taking place tomorrow; they’re ignoring the fact that it’s still over a decade away, by which time the country will <a href="https://www.pv-tech.org/renewable-energy-could-provide-33-50-of-us-electricity-by-2030-but-unlikely-to-hit-biden-80-target/#:~:text=If%20this%20trend%20continues%2C%20renewables,the%20nations%20electricity%20by%202030." style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">inevitably have added more clean power capacity to the grid</a>. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fox is also ignoring how climate change is exacerbating extreme heat events and causing major stresses on the electrical grid. A good example of this comes from the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3993213" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">September 1 edition</a> of Fox Business’ <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Varney & Co.</em> Speaking about the upcoming California heat wave, The Federalist’s Ben Domenech blamed the “green agenda” for potential stress on the energy grid, and not the main culprit, which is <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23333282/wind-solar-blackouts-california-heat-wave" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">climate-fueled extreme weather events</a>. (Domenech also claimed nuclear power should be considered more, without noting that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/01/california-lawmakers-vote-to-keep-diablo-canyon-nuclear-plant-open.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">California recently just voted to extend the life</a> of its last-remaining nuclear plant.)</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/29/global-extreme-weather-events-climate-change/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">summer of extreme climate-fueled events</a> shows the climate crisis is at our doorstep. Right-wing media refuse to acknowledge this reality, instead preferring to repeat pro-fossil fuel messages — i.e., the ones that got us into this climate mess in the first place.</span></p></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-47731809948558817122022-09-02T13:01:00.001-04:002022-09-02T13:02:32.710-04:00<p> <span style="font-family: georgia;">MATT GERTZ Via Media Matters</span></p><p><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Justice Department keeps revealing damning details about the ongoing investigation into Donald Trump’s illicit possession of highly classified documents and his alleged effort to conceal and retain those materials. That has some commentators arguing against an indictment of the former president on the grounds that it might spur a backlash from conservatives who will argue that Democrats have weaponized the DOJ.</span></span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Trump’s “defenders would claim that every person ostensibly committed to the dispassionate upholding of the rule of law is in fact motivated by rank partisanship and a drive to self-aggrandizement,” Damon Linkler <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/opinion/trump-fbi-republicans.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">wrote</a> last week in The New York Times. “This would be directed at the attorney general, the F.B.I., the Justice Department and other branches of the so-called deep state. The spectacle would be corrosive, in effect convincing most Republican voters that appeals to the rule of law are invariably a sham.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But this smear of federal law enforcement cannot be staved off by declining to indict the former president, as Linkler suggests. It is true that a bloc of Republicans and right-wing media personalities have spent the weeks since the FBI’s August 6 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-built-pretext-january-6-what-its-doing-now-scarier" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">loudly arguing</a> that the action was a partisan sham, and they would certainly continue to do so if he were indicted. Another faction, however, is now preparing to go after the Justice Department on the exact same grounds of Democratic partisanship if it decides not to indict the former president.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t tendency runs through the columns of Andrew McCarthy, a Trump-skeptical legal commentator respected in higher-brow conservative circles. McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor whose columns run in National Review and The New York Post and who regularly provides legal commentary in his role as a Fox News contributor. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">McCarthy’s August 9 <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/09/trump-raid-not-about-classified-documents-its-about-jan-6/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">column</a>, written in the immediate aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search, provided a somewhat more sober version of the <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-furiously-poisoning-well-after-mar-lago-search" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">incendiary conspiracy theories</a> of a justice system weaponized for Democratic benefit that were replete at the time on Fox. The National Review columnist argued that the Justice Department had “obviously” used concerns about classified information “as a pretext” to find evidence tying Trump to the January 6 insurrection. He warned against filing charges on such grounds, saying that such an indictment “would fuel the perception that Democrats are using the Justice Department as a political weapon.” </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“The Biden Justice Department is under enormous pressure from the Democratic base to indict Trump, and it is straining to deliver,” McCarthy concluded.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A couple weeks later, McCarthy was <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/26/reading-through-the-redacted-lines-of-the-mar-a-lago-raid-affidavit/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">still telling readers</a> that any Trump indictment would be politically motivated. After reviewing the redacted affidavit supporting the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, he concluded that the Justice Department would be unlikely to indict the former president unless it had strong evidence to prosecute an obstruction of justice charge or Trump talked himself into an indictment.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“I don’t think the Justice Department and FBI want to prosecute Donald Trump on classified-information or document-retention offenses in light of all the considerable downsides of doing so,” McCarthy explained. But he added: “Of course, the Biden Justice Department has shown itself to be very responsive to the demands of Democrats’ progressive base. As the midterms approach, if the left’s rabid insistence on a Trump indictment gets intense enough, all bets are off.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After Tuesday’s <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/rights-flailing-attacks-mar-lago-search-have-aged-terribly" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">damning DOJ filing</a>, however, McCarthy concluded in his August 31 <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/31/how-the-doj-have-built-a-case-against-trump-for-obstruction/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">column</a> that the DOJ possesses “formidable” evidence of obstruction on Trump’s part and that Attorney General Merrick Garland will likely approve charges. That evidence is so damning, in fact, that McCarthy wrote that the only explanation for not indicting Trump would be that the DOJ is in the service of the partisan interests of the Democratic Party.</span></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="block-quote__quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is a serious obstruction case that appears as if it would not be difficult to prove. The Justice Department is under immense pressure from the Democratic base to indict Trump, and the jury pool in Washington, DC, where the government would file any indictment, is intensely anti-Trump. It is thus hard to imagine that Attorney General Merrick Garland will decide against filing charges.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The best hope Trump has of avoiding an indictment is that Democrats would rather run against a wounded Trump in 2024 than indict him in 2022.</span></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Note that McCarthy left himself room to accuse Garland of partisanship regardless of what the attorney general does: If he files charges, it will be because his department is “under immense pressure from the Democratic base to indict Trump,” while if he refrains, the only explanation is that he thinks it will help Democrats by keeping Trump on the 2024 presidential ballot.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">To his credit, when the facts change, McCarthy’s stated view changes. To his detriment, the throughline is that if the Justice Department doesn’t do what he wants, it must be because it’s run by Democratic partisans.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It’s easy to imagine that this line of reasoning might spread amid the faction of the GOP that would prefer to see another candidate — perhaps <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ron-desantis-trumpism.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis</a> — on the ballot in 2024 in Trump’s stead. It gives such individuals a talking point that suggests moving on from Trump without actually criticizing his behavior: It’s the Democrats who want Trump to be the 2024 Republican nominee! You can tell that’s true because the Justice Department isn’t indicting him!</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The staunchly pro-Trump faction, of course, has a different view. </span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 500px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565325036537450497" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1565325036537450497&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fandrew-mccarthy%2Fright-will-accuse-doj-partisanship-whether-or-not-it-indicts-trump&sessionId=b5987382b4180ecd3c9178b36e47f70fa4ce2ae5&siteScreenName=mmfa&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 663px; margin: 0px auto; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Justice Department would be wise to follow the facts wherever they may lead and make a decision about whether to indict Trump based on what it finds. Trying to avoid right-wing allegations of partisanship is futile — in that information ecosystem, such conspiracy theories are the coin of the realm</span><span style="font-family: Barlow, sans-serif;">.</span></p></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-210946979407421782022-09-02T12:52:00.000-04:002022-09-02T12:52:07.314-04:00‘Are you kidding me?’: Reporters slammed for panning Biden’s anti-fascism speech<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement from Raw Story</span></p><p><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Joe+Biden" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><strong>President Joe Biden</strong></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Thursday night delivered a 23-minute primetime address urging Americans to choose democracy over fascism, while calling out, by name,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Donald+Trump" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank"><strong>Donald Trump</strong></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">and his MAGA Republicans.</span></p><div id="piano-post-p0-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Historians, political scientists, and journalism and extremism experts are praising the President for standing up for American values in the face of rising far-right threats of political violence. President Biden in very clear terms warned Americans they must "defend" and "protect" democracy against the fascism of the far-right – which is not a political speech, but a speech about, as Biden said, the "soul of the nation."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">As expected, many Republicans expressed outrage over President Biden calling out the portion of the GOP that identifies as "MAGA," even though he made clear his criticism was not of mainstream Republicans.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">One news network's coverage in particular is being <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1565504223311167490" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">highly criticized</a> as several of its reporters took umbrage with President Biden delivering what they wrongly characterized as a "political" speech, while criticizing that two uniformed Marines were standing behind him.<br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">CNN Chief National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny tweeted a photo of the President in front of the Marines, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/jeffzeleny/status/1565496320672108548" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">saying</a>: "There’s nothing unusual or wrong with a President delivering a political speech — it’s inherent in the job description — but doing it against a backdrop of two Marines standing at attention and the Marine Band is a break with White House traditions."</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="background-color: white; display: flex; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 550px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565496320672108548" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1565496320672108548&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2658111878%23publish&sessionId=aaaaa98eaabfc1050312f69a05697c9a7e798e83&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 849px; max-width: 100%; position: static; vertical-align: middle; visibility: visible; width: 550px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="3833448356" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: block; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; text-decoration-line: none;"></ins><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Journalist Jamison Foser <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/jamisonfoser/status/1565498412140679168" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">observed</a> that "Biden is talking about defending democracy and the rule of law from assault by a fascist movement that staged a deadly insurrection. Marines take an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' Pretty compatible!"</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskil (D-MO) slammed Zeleny.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"Are you kidding me Jeff? The last President did official Republican political events at the White House! And used the National Park Service as political event planners. How about political interview inside the Lincoln Memorial? Those are all examples of demolishing WH traditions," she <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fjeffzeleny%2Fstatus%2F1565496320672108548&src=typed_query" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">wrote</a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/RubenGallego/status/1565501387785375744" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">asked</a>, "Didn’t TFG," referring to Donald Trump, "accept his nomination on the White House lawn?"</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"I recall a certain president giving a political speech on a damn aircraft carrier," <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1565510069084721155" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">blasted</a> national security attorney Brad Moss. "I recall another president accepting his political nomination at the WHITE HOUSE. Ask me how little I care about the two marines deep in the background."<br /></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The former Communications Director for Senator Amy Klobuchar, Tim Hogan, corrected the record with photographic evidence:</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="background-color: white; display: flex; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 550px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565521913425928193" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1565521913425928193&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2658111878%23publish&sessionId=aaaaa98eaabfc1050312f69a05697c9a7e798e83&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 528px; max-width: 100%; position: static; vertical-align: middle; visibility: visible; width: 550px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Zeleny was not the only CNN journalist to instigate the ire of Americans watching the President's speech.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"Whatever you think of this speech the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it," <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/brikeilarcnn/status/1565496191042949123" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">tweeted</a> CNN host Brianna Keilar.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">University of South Carolina Political Science Professor David Darmofal corrected Keilar, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/david_darmofal/status/1565506216322818051" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">saying</a>: "It was a speech about defending democracy."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Mary Trump, the former President's niece who is a psychologist, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1565509574748262401" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">added</a>: "I see everyone at CNN got their talking point. This was NOT a political speech (unless you think condemning fascism and encouraging people to vote are political positions in which case--that's what we call a tell).</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">CNN wasn't the only news outlet with reporters attracting anger.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">CBS News' Ed O'Keefe was also criticized for equating a call to fight fascism and defend democracy as a "political" speech.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">O'Keefe characterized the fight for civil rights as partisan politics, which it is not.</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="background-color: white; display: flex; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 550px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565454750711271425" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-2" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-2&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1565454750711271425&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2658111878%23publish&sessionId=aaaaa98eaabfc1050312f69a05697c9a7e798e83&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 724px; max-width: 100%; position: static; vertical-align: middle; visibility: visible; width: 550px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Marquette University Political Science Professor Julia Azari, who teaches about the American presidency, American political parties, and the politics of the American state <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/julia_azari/status/1565498494164639749" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">blasted O'Keefe</a>: "This frame undermines both democracy and journalism."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain graciously challenged O'Keefe:</p><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="background-color: white; display: flex; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 550px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1565466306010308608" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-3" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-3&features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOlsibGlua3RyLmVlIiwidHIuZWUiXSwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19ob3Jpem9uX3RpbWVsaW5lXzEyMDM0Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfY2hpbl9waWxsc18xNDc0MSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb2xvcl9pY29ucyIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfcmVzdWx0X21pZ3JhdGlvbl8xMzk3OSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJ0d2VldF9yZXN1bHQiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NlbnNpdGl2ZV9tZWRpYV9pbnRlcnN0aXRpYWxfMTM5NjMiOnsiYnVja2V0IjoiaW50ZXJzdGl0aWFsIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19leHBlcmltZW50c19jb29raWVfZXhwaXJhdGlvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOjEyMDk2MDAsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZHVwbGljYXRlX3NjcmliZXNfdG9fc2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VkaXRfZnJvbnRlbmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1565466306010308608&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2Fr%2Fentryeditor%2F2658111878%23publish&sessionId=aaaaa98eaabfc1050312f69a05697c9a7e798e83&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px" style="display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 447px; max-width: 100%; position: static; vertical-align: middle; visibility: visible; width: 550px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Dan Froomkin, one of the most credible media critics also slammed O'Keefe.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"Biden is describing a major democratic crisis that actually exists. But political journalists only see a Democrat saying negative things about Republicans and so, you know, both sides," he <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1565467816312160257" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">wrote</a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The White House Deputy Press Secretary, Andrew Bates, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://twitter.com/AndrewJBates46/status/1565464045314007041" rel="noopener" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">summed up what many were saying</a>: "Democracy is not a partisan or political issue."</p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-43689829459754155542022-09-02T12:40:00.002-04:002022-09-02T12:40:36.392-04:00Florida parents outraged after teacher tells kids that saying Trump lost the election is an example of media bias<p> Travis Gettys Via Raw Story</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">A substitute teacher used news coverage of</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2658111773/" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Donald Trump's</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">election lies as an example of media bias in a Florida classroom, outraging parents.</span></p><div id="piano-post-p0-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The teacher assigned a take-home sheet titled “How Does a Historian Work?” to prepare sixth-grade students for a test, including a list of vocabulary words such as primary and secondary sources, and <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-big-lie-ended-up-in-a-sixth-grade-classroom-in-florida?ref=home" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">one mother told The Daily Beast</a> she was shocked by the topic cited by the teacher as an example of bias.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"The media is often biased and will add words that persuade you to think one way or another. Read these two statements made by reporters after the 2020 election," the worksheet read. "<a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.rawstory.com/are-you-kidding-me-jeff-reporters-pummeled-for-panning-bidens-anti-fascism-speech-as-political/" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">President Trump</a> made claims that the 2020 election was stolen. President Trump made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"The first sentence is just giving you information," the sheet added, "while the second leads you to believe he is wrong before you have all the facts."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The mother showed the paper to her husband, who shared her concern, and she was among several parents who called R. Dan Nolan Middle School in Bradenton to complain, and the principal promised to look into the matter.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">“It’s actually the most biased example of bias I’ve seen,” the mother said. “It seems pretty out of place for a sixth-grade class.”</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">“We’re laughing," she added, "but it’s not funny."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Another student's father issued a statement expressing his disapproval of the assignment.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">“I am very unhappy that the teacher would choose such a controversial example in an assignment supposedly teaching bias in a world history class," the father said. "There are so many other examples that could have been used. And the way this question is phrased would lead a student to believe that the media was incorrect in their assessment that the president’s claims were false.”</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">“And I would also add it is inappropriate to be using this example at a time when Trump is STILL disputing the results of the 2020 election two years later and demanding a do over!" he added.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The Manatee County School Board issued a statement saying the homework assignment did not meet their standards, but also pledged support for state standards set forth by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has campaigned against left-wing "indoctrination" in schools and has refused to say whether the 2020 election was stolen.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="3833448356" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; display: block; text-decoration-line: none;"></ins></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">“It’s like, indoctrinating who?” the mother said, adding that she's awaiting the results of Thursday's test. “I’m interested if he had to use his own example of bias, and if they had to use Trump to get extra points.”</p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-38007187209760091952022-08-26T17:23:00.001-04:002022-08-26T17:25:13.239-04:00Fox News pushed falsehood that the Inflation Reduction Act adds 87,000 new IRS employees more than 200 times<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqobHn29-MRUcVAVQZ8uDxLH7TdqpuBL0S_onKKijtcXphmbo-QHPo3oHVO_YwRMNs3klGXQclzXytTlQrzGEoHNzeBQ6ZK0IfDODkvo8XHSQwjmv1OkyAINpC4zNpneIaFzWvpjsmODykTLsVubl66LxcC9_cY715BiR10tg27jPN4R87VA/s600/fox-brainwash-news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqobHn29-MRUcVAVQZ8uDxLH7TdqpuBL0S_onKKijtcXphmbo-QHPo3oHVO_YwRMNs3klGXQclzXytTlQrzGEoHNzeBQ6ZK0IfDODkvo8XHSQwjmv1OkyAINpC4zNpneIaFzWvpjsmODykTLsVubl66LxcC9_cY715BiR10tg27jPN4R87VA/s320/fox-brainwash-news.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />MATT GERTZ/Media Matters<p></p><p> <span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">Fox News has promoted the false claim that the Inflation Reduction Act adds 87,000 employees to the Internal Revenue Service at least 203 times since Senate Democrats announced the bill’s framework on August 5, according to a Media Matters review of the network’s programming. That false talking point fuels Fox’s incendiary smear that President Joe Biden is turning the IRS into a</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/laura-ingraham-claims-joe-biden-using-irs-his-new-gestapo" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">“new Gestapo”</a><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">that will</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-brian-kilmeade-says-joe-bidens-new-army-going-hunt-down-and-kill-middle-class" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">“hunt down and kill middle-class taxpayers.”</a></span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The IRA, which Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/16/us/politics/biden-climate-health-bill.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">signed</a> into law on August 16, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-manchin-congress-internal-revenue-service-government-and-politics-dd2e6eaeb914eea553615e231332f3fb" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">includes</a> $80 billion over the next decade in additional funding for the IRS. A portion of those funds would support tougher tax enforcement <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/10/politics/yellen-new-irs-funding-audits/index.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">targeted</a> at Americans making more than $400,000, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates would raise $204 billion. The <a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats-inflation-reduction-act" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">net gain</a> of $124 billion, along with prescription drug pricing reform and tax increases on billion-dollar corporations, helps the bill fund investments in clean energy and health care while also reducing the deficit by over $300 billion over 10 years. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Republicans and their right-wing media supporters oppose increased funding for the IRS; they prefer to <a href="https://www.slowboring.com/p/funding-the-tax-police-is-very-good" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">hobble tax enforcement</a> so that wealthy people can continue to cheat on their taxes with impunity. GOP politicians spent years <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">defunding the tax police</a> and have focused their IRA criticism on this provision, <a href="https://www.grid.news/story/misinformation/2022/08/22/behind-the-lie-of-87000-armed-agents-how-an-obscure-factoid-was-bent-into-a-popular-gop-talking-point/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">deceptively warning</a> that the bill creates a “new army of 87,000 IRS agents” who “will be coming for you,” in the words of House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fox has played a key role in stoking right-wing ire against the IRS, including by spreading the false claim that the bill would lead to the hiring of 87,000 employees at least 203 times. The talking point has been commonplace both on “news side” programs like <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Faulkner Focus</em> (20 instances), <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America’s Newsroom</em> (15), and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America Reports</em> (12), and on “opinion side” shows like <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends First</em> (23 instances), <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em> (16), <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em> (15), <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em> (12), and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em> (10). The purported 87,000 new hires were specifically described as “agents” at least 169 times. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But it is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-ap-fact-check-congress-government-and-politics-11eae023a3dc3a04584371843234cab7" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">false</a> to claim that the IRA provides for 87,000 IRS hires, agents or not. The IRS has not announced any hiring plans in response to the IRA — the figure comes from a separate Treasury Department proposal from 2021 detailing what the IRS could do with additional funding, which predates that bill. That proposal includes 87,000 new hires across all positions, including secretarial and IT staff, not strictly auditors or “agents.” GOP-driven budget cuts in recent years have reduced the IRS headcount to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/irs-agents-tax-audits-inflation-reduction-act-rcna42554" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">near-1974 levels</a>, and the hiring plan is meant to address a major loss of employees to retirement and “simply maintain current levels,” according to <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/kevin-mccarthy/kevin-mccarthys-mostly-false-claim-about-army-8700/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">PolitiFact</a>.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Fox has also regularly promoted the wildly inflammatory and false claim that the new IRS hires would all be armed, doing so at least 40 times over the same period, 9 of which came on Fox star Tucker Carlson’s program. That’s a conflation of a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-IRS-special-agent-gun-028823423140" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">separate talking point</a> the right has used to fearmonger about the IRS. In fact, as the network’s White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich has <a href="https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1558561386904670209" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">noted</a> on Twitter, only a tiny fraction of the service’s employees belong to the Criminal Investigation division, a century-old unit whose special agents carry firearms because they <a href="https://www.jobs.irs.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg-uploads/files/2021_Annual_Report.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">handle dangerous cases</a> involving crimes like public corruption, narcotics, and money laundering.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">These Fox falsehoods are part of a wave of right-wing demagoguery targeting the IRS. As I <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlsons-dangerous-lie-biden-targeting-his-audience-87000-armed-irs-agents" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">noted</a> last week after Carlson alleged that the Biden administration is hiring “87,000 armed IRS agents to make sure you obey”:</span></p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="block-quote__quote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Carlson’s falsehood follows a week of unhinged demagoguery from Fox and others in the right-wing media that links the new IRS funding with the Mar-a-Lago search as dark signs that the Biden administration has weaponized the government against Americans. Fox pundits have described the potential wave of IRS hiring as an “economic, financial militia against regular people” deployed by those who “want to control you”; a “new army” that will “hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers”; a “new Gestapo” Biden will use in an “abusive, corrupt manner”; “a Praetorian Guard that will be unleashed again” to “grab all the cash they can by any means necessary”; and “part of an orchestrated campaign to target Americans and have the federal government be at war with those Americans.”</span></p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The virulence of the right-wing attacks on the IRS has <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-bashed-attacks-irs-agents-041413372.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">triggered concerns</a> that its employees may be subject to violence. On Tuesday, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig announced “a full security review of its facilities nationwide” in light of staff safety concerns, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/08/23/irs-safety-republicans/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">reported</a>. Rettig, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/05/19/charles-rettig-irs-trump-biden/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Trump appointee</a>, suggested that Republican criticisms of the service are fueling far-right extremism and threats.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">That isn’t giving Fox hosts a reason for pause. On Tuesday, Laura Ingraham once again falsely claimed that the IRA funds “87,000 IRS agents,” and <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/laura-ingraham-claims-biden-administration-considers-about-half-country-its-enemies" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">described</a> Rettig’s statement as “preemptive action against its critics” by the Biden administration.</span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.1rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Methodology</span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “Internal Revenue Service,” “IRS,” “Inflation Reduction Act,” or “IRA” or any variation of the phrase “tax enforcement” within close proximity of any of the terms “hire,” “employee,” “personnel,” “agent,” “armed,” “87,000,” “87000,” “87 thousand,” “eighty-seven thousand,” “80 billion,” or “eighty billion” from August 5, 2022, through August 23, 2022.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We counted segments, which we defined as instances when the Internal Revenue Service funding provision of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) was the stated topic of discussion or instances when we found significant discussion of the provision. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in the multitopic segment discussed the provision with one another. We also included passing mentions, which we defined as instances when a speaker mentioned the provision in a segment about another topic without another speaker engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about the provision scheduled to air later in the broadcast.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We then reviewed all segments, mentions, and teasers for any claims suggesting that the IRA funding for the IRS would result in the hiring of 87,000 new employees. Within those claims, we also noted when speakers described the employees as “agents” or “armed.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We split Fox programs into “news” and “opinion” sides. We defined “news” programs as those with anchors, such as Bret Baier or Martha MacCallum, at the helm, while we defined “opinion” programs as those with hosts, such as Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham. We used the designations from each anchor or host’s author page on FoxNews.com. We also considered the format of the program; we defined those using a panel format, such as <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Outnumbered</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Five</em>, as opinion programs.</span></p></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-46009691872819620422022-08-26T16:39:00.003-04:002022-08-26T16:40:28.031-04:00Right-wing media erroneously claim Biden “facilitated” search of Mar-a-Lago<p> CYDNEY HARGIS & CHARIS HOARD/Media Matters</p><p><span style="color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif;">In their latest attempt to dismiss the hundreds of classified documents found at Mar-a-Largo, right-wing media coalesced around a bogus claim that President Joe Biden “facilitated” the search by rejecting former President Donald Trump’s executive privilege. </span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On August 8, the FBI executed a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-documents.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">judge-approved search warrant</a> of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as part of an investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents. Earlier this year, reports surfaced that the National Archives and Records Administration had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">retrieved</a> 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago in January, some of which <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mar-a-lago-national-security-9c1f6dca7e3e8073ee029604c8253a5c" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">contained </a>classified materials. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">According to a recent report <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-documents.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">from The New York Times</a>, over 300 classified documents have been seized from Trump’s Florida property over the course of three searches since January. Trump has <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-motion-mar-a-lago-search/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">since filed a motion</a> asking for a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI, which would block the Department of Justice from further reviewing the documents until that third-party arbitrator is appointed, and return any property not within the scope of the search warrant. If a federal judge approves Trump’s <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/8/23/headlines/fbi_seized_150_documents_from_trumps_mar_a_lago_home_in_august_8_search" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">request</a>, it could delay a federal criminal investigation into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The August 8 search came after months of reported resistance from the Trump team; according to <a href="https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/full-text-national-archives-letter-trump-classified-documents" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">a May 10 letter</a> from U.S. Acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall to Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran released this week, Trump tried to delay the FBI’s review of the retrieved records and his lawyers consistently asked for more time to determine if the records included documents they considered protected by executive privilege. In the letter, Steidel Wall <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/23/trump-records-mar-a-lago-fbi/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">wrote that</a> government lawyers determined that executive privilege rests with the current president, not a former one, and that Biden “defers to [her] determination” whether the FBI could view the records. After <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/23/trump-classified-documents-national-archives/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">consulting with the</a> Department of Justice, she ultimately decided not to honor Trump's claim of executive privilege, which allowed the FBI to begin viewing the documents. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On Monday, August 22, conservative journalist and Trump liaison to the National Archives John Solomon <a href="https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/biden-white-house-facilitated-dojs-criminal-probe-against-trump" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">published the Steidel Wall-Corcoran letter</a> on his website Just the News in an <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-hell-did-trumps-buddy-john-solomon-release-extraordinarily-damning-letter" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">attempt to prove</a> that the Biden White House sparked the investigation by choosing to waive executive privilege. Despite zero evidence, right-wing media ran with the report and accused Biden of “siccing the FBI” on his political opposition.</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: bagatela, serif; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-size: small;">Legal experts dispute Trump’s claims, and historical context confirms executive privilege can be revoked </span></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Conservative media have repeatedly framed rejecting Trump's claim of executive privilege as an extreme step that ignited the FBI's search of his Florida residence. This view ignores the fact that the former president was under <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/politics/doj-investigation-trump-documents-timeline/index.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">investigation for mishandling</a> classified documents for months prior to Steidel Wall's decision, that the current administration is well within its right to reject claims of executive privilege, and that the Biden administration is not the only one to have done it. </p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">National security lawyer Bradley Moss: “Ironically, Trump’s media guy shows how NARA was bending over backwards for Trump before it finally gave the FBI access to the classified records.”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://twitter.com/BradMossEsq/status/1561929844023246858" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>] </li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Executive privilege is for the benefit of the republic, not the individual.</strong> According to forum Just Security, which provides legal analysis and is based out of the New York University Law School, the 1977 Supreme Court case <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nixon v. GSA</em> made it clear that executive privilege is “a governmental privilege, not a personal privilege.” Executive privilege, therefore, can be waived by the current president, even if it is asserted by the former president, especially when such a veto would benefit the enforcement of existing laws and statutes — such as the ones at question in the ongoing FBI investigation. [Just Security, <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78904/no-former-presidents-cannot-assert-executive-privilege-at-least-not-meaningfully/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">11/4/21</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Supreme Court ruled that executive privilege is not unlimited, even for a sitting president.</strong> In the 1974 case <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">United States v. Nixon</em>, the Supreme Court found that the current president’s communications with advisers pertaining to “the process of shaping policies and making decisions” were privileged. However, that privilege yielded to a special prosecutor's need to obtain evidence as part of a criminal investigation. [Time, <a href="https://time.com/6105636/biden-executive-privilege-january-6/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">10/8/21</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Biden is not the only president to reject a former president’s claims of executive privilege.</strong> Former President George W. Bush invoked executive privilege over White House documents related to the CIA’s advanced interrogation techniques. However, in 2014, former President Barack Obama rejected the privilege claim and released the documents as part of an ongoing court case. [Just Security, <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78413/modern-history-of-disclosure-of-presidential-records-on-the-boundaries-of-executive-privilege/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">9/30/21</a>]</li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: bagatela, serif; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-size: small;">Right-wing media still baselessly claim that Biden “facilitated” the FBI’s search</span></h2><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox host Sean Hannity: “The Biden White House in fact actually facilitated the DOJ’s probe against” Trump.</strong> During the August 23 edition of his Fox News show, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em> cited Solomon’s article to claim that the White House “facilitated” the search at Mar-a-Lago by waiving Trump’s claim of executive privilege. Hannity said that in doing so, the Biden administration “was actively paving the way for the FBI’s investigation into documents from Trump’s time as president that Trump had every legal right to possess.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992786" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox’s Tucker Carlson: “If you have a political opponent, you just imprison him.”</strong> During the August 23 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, host Tucker Carlson implied the Solomon report confirmed what he knew all along — that the Biden administration coordinated with the DOJ on the criminal probe into Trump. Carlson concluded that Trump is running for president in 2024 and “they want to stop him. It’s what you do in the third world. If you have a political opponent, you just imprison him.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992800" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox’s Jesse Watters: “Joe Biden has now been directly implicated in the raid on Mar-a-Lago.”</strong> Fox host Jesse Watters cited Solomon’s article during the August 23 edition of his show, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jesse Watters Primetime</em>, to try claiming the president was “implicated in the raid” in Florida. Watters asserted that because Biden waived Trump’s claim of executive privilege, “that set the raid in motion.” Watters went on to say that “Biden’s White House had the chance to calm things down, but instead they set fire to Trump’s executive privilege and triggered a raid on his house.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jesse Watters Primetime</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992785" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity: Biden personally intervened “to undermine President Trump’s claims of executive privilege.”</strong> During the August 23 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Sean Hannity Show</em>, Hannity baselessly claimed that John Solomon’s documents conclusively prove that Biden pushed his Department of Justice to “investigate records stored at” Mar-a-Lago with “President Biden personally intervening to undermine President Trump’s claims of executive privilege.” [Premiere Radio Networks, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Sean Hannity Show</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992795" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity asked Solomon if the DOJ’s “ultimate goal” is to arrest and charge Trump.</strong> During that same episode, Hannity conducted an interview with Solomon, asking if the Biden administration’s “ultimate goal here is to arrest Donald Trump and charge Donald Trump.” Solomon replied that there isn’t enough evidence to know yet, but laid out a timeline that implied the administration waived Trump’s executive privilege in order to “[raid] his home.” Hannity responded that the people running this investigation are “the same liars that have been there since the day he came down the escalator.” [Premiere Radio Networks, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Sean Hannity Show</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992789" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Solomon: “Joe Biden himself was at the ignition point of this investigation.”</strong> During the August 23 edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">War Room: Pandemic</em>, Solomon told host Steve Bannon that Biden “was at the ignition point of this investigation.” He went on to baselessly claim that Biden was “involved in siccing the FBI on his — on the leader of the political opposition party.” [Real America’s Voice, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">War Room: Pandemic</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992788" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mark Levin: “I knew it; Biden knew, the White House knew, they’re all behind it.”</strong> On his show Monday night, Mark Levin spoke about Solomon’s article, saying that “the memos provide the most definitive evidence to date of the current White House’s effort to facilitate a criminal probe of" Trump. He continued to dramatize the extent of the White House’s involvement, such as “eliminating one of the legal defenses that Trump might use to fight the FBI over access to his documents,” referring to the Biden administration’s denial of Trump’s claim on executive privilege. [Westwood One, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Mark Levin Show</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992796" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Trump: “They Knew Everything.”</strong> In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, the former president stated that he was told the White House “[was] NOT INVOLVED. … & that they didn’t know anything at all about the Break-In of Mar-a-Lago.” Trump also praised the “great reporting” of Solomon, saying that Solomon’s reporting on the subpoena documents revealed how the Biden administration in fact “led the charge” on the searches of Mar-a-Lago. [The Gateway Pundit, <a href="https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/08/trump-responds-memos-showing-biden-white-house-helped-instigate-mar-lago-raid-knew-everything/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.38; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Daily Caller claimed the White House “was involved with the DOJ probe” into classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.</strong> The Daily Caller relied entirely on Solomon’s reporting in an August 23 article that claimed Biden was involved in the FBI search. The Daily Caller went on to write that waiving executive privilege “effectively eliminated a legal defense” for Trump. [The Daily Caller, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2022/08/23/mar-a-lago-trump-archives-raid-fbi-biden/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</li></ul></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-19053959819737941712022-08-26T15:55:00.001-04:002022-08-26T15:59:03.987-04:00FBI found 184 classified documents in boxes returned by Trump, redacted affidavit says, prompting search<p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, Publico Text, Times New Roman, Times, Baskerville;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">By Rebecca Shabad, Ryan J. Reilly and Ken Dilanian/NBC News</span></span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;">WASHINGTON — A <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22267187-affidavit-mal" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">redacted copy</a> of the FBI affidavit used to justify the Aug. 8 search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate was unsealed Friday, revealing details of the federal government's efforts to recover classified documents, including top-secret information.</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The 36-page affidavit, much of which was heavily redacted, said that in mid-May, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the contents of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/national-archives-says-trump-took-15-boxes-white-house-records-florida-rcna15260" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">15 boxes Trump returned to the National Archives from his Florida property</a> in January, and "identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES."</p><div id="taboolaReadMoreBelow" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px;"></div><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The affidavit said that agents found 184 unique documents that had classification markings. It stated that 25 documents were marked as "TOP SECRET," 67 documents marked as "confidential" and 92 marked "secret." According to the affidavit, agents observed markings denoting various control systems designed to protect various types of sensitive information, including markings that designate intelligence gathered by "clandestine human sources," such as a report by a CIA officer or someone who works for the Defense Intelligence Agency.</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The release of the FBI affidavit came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/justice-department-submits-redactions-mar-largo-search-warrant-affidav-rcna44827" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">ruled Thursday that the document could be unsealed</a> after the Department of Justice submitted proposed redactions.</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Reinhart approved the warrant that allowed federal agents to search Trump’s Florida property Aug. 8 after determining that the affidavit provided probable cause. He <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-indicates-may-not-unseal-much-trump-mar-lago-search-affidavit-rcna44190" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">reiterated</a> earlier this week that he found “probable cause that evidence of multiple federal crimes would be found” at Mar-a-Lago and that he “was — and am — satisfied that the facts sworn by the affiant are reliable.”</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The affidavit contains substantial redactions in its section on providing probable cause for the August search, which is about 20 pages. One almost completely blacked-out section is titled, “There is Probable Cause to Believe That Documents Containing Classified [National Defense Information] and Presidential Records Remain at the Premises.”</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Ultimately, FBI agents removed 11 additional sets of classified documents, including some labeled secret and top secret, during the Aug. 8 search, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-mar-lago-search-warrant-property-receipt-show-agents-found-trove-rcna42793" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">the property receipt of items</a> that were recovered. There were also papers described as “SCI” documents, which stands for highly classified “sensitive compartmented information.”</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The Justice Department had argued against releasing the affidavit. The document itself says that any “premature disclosure” of the affidavit and other related documents could "have a significant and negative impact on the continuing investigation and may severely jeopardize its effectiveness by allowing criminal parties an opportunity to flee, destroy evidence (stored electronically and otherwise), change patterns of behavior, and notify criminal confederates.”</p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"></p><figure class="inline-image inline-image--medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 3rem 0px; padding: 0px; width: 560px;"></figure><p></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 1.5rem 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The affidavit noted that based on the federal investigation, the government believed that the storage room where boxes of presidential records were kept at Mar-a-Lago, as well as Trump's suite, his office and other spaces "within the premises are not currently authorized locations for the storage of classified information."</p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 1.5rem 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">In June, Justice Department lawyers sent Trump's attorneys a letter that reiterated that Mar-a-Lago couldn't be used to store classified information, according to the affidavit. The Justice Department asked in the letter that the room where the documents were stored "be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice." </p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-67491271173176746182022-08-26T14:44:00.000-04:002022-08-26T14:48:16.800-04:00New documents shed light on vast right-wing plan to disrupt democracy<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">Travis Gettys Via Raw Story</span></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Newly revealed documents shed light on a secretive right-wing group, its well-connected members and extensive efforts undertaken to overturn Donald Trump's election loss.</p><div id="piano-post-p0-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The Center for Media and Democracy has <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2022/03/11/revealed-new-leaders-of-council-for-national-policy-set-extremist-agenda/" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">published</a> the agenda for a recent CNPCouncil for National Policy meeting, in late February, and the watchdog journalists at Documented has <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://documented.net/media/2020-cnp-action-990" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">obtained</a> the membership roster and the most recent tax filings for the nonprofit organization, and those newly released materials show CNP's role in disrupting U.S. democracy, <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/167002/council-national-policy-documents-right-wing-conspiracy" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">reported <em>The New Republic</em></a>.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"CNP archives illustrate the extensive planning its members undertook to discredit the 2020 election results, undermine local election officials, and incite the protest on January 6, 2021," the magazine reported. "The House select committee on January 6 has subpoenaed CNP election expert <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://newrepublic.com/article/166778/cleta-mitchell-trump-lawyer-2022-midterm-elections" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Cleta Mitchell</a>, and the panel is also examining <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/virginia-thomas-mark-meadows-texts/" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">29 texts</a> exchanged between then–White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Supreme Court spouse Ginni Thomas (a board member of the CNP’s lobbying arm) in support of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">CNP has spawned numerous shadowy offshoots that frequently change their names or vanish, such as the Conservative Partnership Institute, which got $1 million from Trump's "Save America" PAC and counts Mark Meadows as senior partner, and Ginni Thomas ally Cleta Mitchell runs the "Election Integrity Network" under its umbrella.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The February meeting elected a new slate of CNP officers, including new president Tom Fitton, who heads the conservative Judicial Watch; vice president Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio secretary of state who oversaw the key state's troubled 2004 election; secretary Jenny Beth Martin, who took part in the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally; board members Jerry Boykin, a retired Army general and infamous Islamophobe, and Chad Connelly, the national director of faith engagement for the Republican National Committee from 2013 to 2016.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The group also added about two dozen medical professionals, including Jan. 6 and anti-vaxxer Simone Gold, and James Todaro, part of America's Frontline Doctors campaign, which was orchestrated by the CNP and the 2020 Trump campaign to spread coronavirus misinformation.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">Founding members Richard Viguerie and Morton Blackwell still play a role in CNP, whose February meeting highlighted a COVID initiative led by Gold and efforts to strengthen ties to the Koch Network and other relationship with other longstanding partners, and Rachel Bovard, CPI's senior director of policy, joined the board of directors at CNP Action in her first year as a member, which signals that offshoot group's importance to the project.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-5155643920455169" data-ad-format="auto" data-ad-slot="3833448356" data-full-width-responsive="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; display: block; text-decoration-line: none;"></ins></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"The Conservative Partnership Institute was recently cited in an <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Axios report</a> as a prime architect for “Trump 2025,” Trump’s plans for demolishing the federal government should he win a second term," reported <em>The New Republic</em>. "However, Mike Pence became a “dues-paying member” of the CNP this year as well, and there can be little doubt that there are active conversations with Ron DeSantis. The CNP’s leaders have made it clear that their objective is not the personality, it’s the outcome."</p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-9464447968974974232022-08-26T14:33:00.004-04:002022-08-26T14:34:13.591-04:00DOJ worried Trump's 'criminal confederates' might flee or tamper with evidence in Mar-A-Lago case<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> <a class="social-author__name rm-stats-tracked" data-type="text" href="https://www.rawstory.com/u/travis_gettys" style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline-block; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.4; opacity: 1; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; position: relative; text-decoration-line: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; vertical-align: top; white-space: nowrap;">Travis Gettys</a> via Raw Story</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">The Department of Justice wanted to keep the Mar-A-Lago affidavit sealed because investigators were concerned about tipping off additional suspects in the case.</span></p><div id="piano-post-p0-container" style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"></div><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">A federal judge ordered the affidavit supporting the search warrant to be <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000182-daec-dfd1-adef-dafe79d30000" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_blank">unsealed</a>, with redactions of sensitive material, and the document showed that investigators were concerned about revealing the scope of their probe and their sources of evidence, arguing that witnesses could be threatened and their work could be obstructed.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"It is respectfully requested that this Court issue an order sealing, until further order of the Court, all papers submitted in support of this application, including the application and search warrant," said the FBI agent who signed the affidavit. "I believe that sealing this document is necessary because the items and information to be seized are relevant to an ongoing investigation and the FBI has not yet identified all potential criminal confederates nor located all evidence related to its investigation."</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;"><strong><em>RELATED: <a class="rm-stats-tracked" href="https://www.rawstory.com/fbi-affidavit-mar-a-lago/" style="box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; color: black; opacity: 1; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;" target="_self">Read the redacted FBI affidavit that resulted in Mar-a-Lago search warrant</a></em></strong></p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">They cited concerns about notifying those "potential criminal confederates" that their involvement was under investigation, which could give them a chance to interfere with the probe.</p><p style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 19px;">"Premature disclosure of the contents of this affidavit and related documents may have a significant and negative impact on the continuing investigation and may severely jeopardize its effectiveness by allowing criminal parties an opportunity to flee, destroy evidence (stored electronically and otherwise), change patterns of behavior, and notify criminal confederates," the affiant wrote.</p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-88167213046903020742022-08-24T17:40:00.001-04:002022-08-24T17:43:00.322-04:00Republican CNN contributors promote anti-LGBTQ Libs of TikTok account<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> SOPHIE LAWTON via Media Matters</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #3a434e;">On CNN, conservative contributors Scott Jennings and Margaret Hoover recently voiced support for the anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok. </span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Libs of TikTok is a right-wing Twitter <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/19/libs-of-tiktok-right-wing-media/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">account</a> run by Chaya Raichik that targets educators and businesses that support LGBTQ rights, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/right-wing-media-are-pushing-vigilantism-against-trans-people-and-drag-queens" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">inspiring</a> <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/twitter-letting-anti-trans-account-libs-tiktok-target-pride-events-including-those-right" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">harassment</a> from followers. Raichik has expanded the Libs of TikTok brand to Facebook, Instagram, and a personal Substack account, though Facebook <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/libs-tiktok/facebook-just-let-anti-lgbtq-account-libs-tiktok-back-platform-and-its-already" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">reportedly suspended</a> the account for less than 24 hours last week after it led an anti-trans campaign against Boston Children’s Hospital. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On August 17, conservative political commentator Margaret Hoover boosted the account, saying that “gets traction because it's in response to, you know, a changing of the curriculum to diminish some of the core themes of American civics education and that is, that is actually a real thing.” Hoover went on to suggest parents are supportive of Libs of TikTok because their kids aren’t learning enough about the Constitution.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">On August 18, after a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992626" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">panel of parents</a> discussed their anxieties about their children returning to school in the fall, conservative commentator Scott Jennings referenced a parent comment about Libs of TikTok, saying, “They’ve gotten quite famous posting videos of people from schools.” Democratic strategist Maria Cardona called out the misinformation and disinformation around online videos in classrooms and argued against Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” law. Jennings replied, “You can't deny, there have been some anecdotes, some examples, of teachers who have tried to inject some of these things.” </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Anchor Alisyn Camerota and Cardona were quick to call out Jennings for citing Libs of TikTok, with Camerota saying, “You can’t use that as your source.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><br /></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-1499046840063909942022-08-24T17:21:00.001-04:002022-08-24T17:22:42.567-04:00Right-wing media promise to harass Anthony Fauci in retirement if Republicans win back control of Congress<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> ERIC KLEEFELD, BUSHRA SULTANA & SHELBY JAMERSON via Media Matters</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"> <span style="color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;">When presidential medical adviser Anthony Fauci announced h</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGIjqFIkZtlbXA-hkSwYlnT2fzXsY92pWmZT7ybworIVFe4tVuOwsDkSC5YM8dBECNYEn1EHsXfGXImGQkB9Qbvfuj0xuymQ5ke6fwBoK6jimjcmwZQIGLJG1qN3VKkj3v_-CBUar7TMnlT0VIxImoTjafRbvOs7xwSkk3Z4tQHzqdvrg1w/s320/gop-hate-flow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="320" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibGIjqFIkZtlbXA-hkSwYlnT2fzXsY92pWmZT7ybworIVFe4tVuOwsDkSC5YM8dBECNYEn1EHsXfGXImGQkB9Qbvfuj0xuymQ5ke6fwBoK6jimjcmwZQIGLJG1qN3VKkj3v_-CBUar7TMnlT0VIxImoTjafRbvOs7xwSkk3Z4tQHzqdvrg1w/s1600/gop-hate-flow.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><br />is plans to retire in December after five decades of public service, right-wing media personalities predictably attacked him, calling him a “sociopathic liar and political hack” who “needs to be held accountable for all of the lies and misdirections.” </span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times;">On Monday, Fauci <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/fauci-retire.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">announced</a> he intends to step down as President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser and as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In response, right-wing media mounted a public onslaught, claiming that Fauci is stepping down to avoid investigations if Republicans take control of Congress in November, directing the GOP to investigate Fauci if the party should take control, proclaiming Fauci should face criminal charges and be sent to prison, and generally attacking his character.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times;">Even Fox anchor Neil Cavuto, who had previously served as a <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/foxs-neil-cavuto-reveals-death-threats-fox-viewers-over-his-pro-vaccine-stance" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">seeming voice of reason</a> and who has <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/neil-cavutos-interview-dr-fauci-was-big-dispelling-misinformation-not-calling" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">previously interviewed Fauci</a> at the network, pressed the retiring public servant about whether his retirement was really just “a way to avoid Republican investigators.”</span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times;">Right-wing media, especially Fox News, have been maligning Fauci since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/how-right-turned-dr-fauci" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">noted</a>, then-President Donald Trump’s “media supporters could not or would not try to directly challenge the president,” whose administration’s response included recommendations of stay-at-home orders and other social distancing measures, “and settled instead on targeting Fauci, who was a face of the administration’s response.” The smear campaign against Fauci didn’t stop; over a roughly 10-month period in 2021, Fox News personalities <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/kill-shot-deadly-ambush-fox-host-jesse-watters-tells-audience-go-after-dr" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">attacked him over 400 times</a>.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /> <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Fauci may plan to retire at the end of the year, but the right-wing echo chamber is prepared to hound him for years to come if given the opportunity.</span></p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: times;">Claims that Fauci is stepping down to avoid oversight</span></strong></h3><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox prime-time star Tucker Carlson speculated that Fauci may have resigned because he thinks the Republicans are going to take over Congress in the midterm elections and does not want to be investigated by them.</strong> “So it's possible that Tony Fauci might want to resign before he has to explain all of that to a new Congress,” Carlson said. “He might want to get out of town now and move to, say, Cambridge, find a safe place to hide before the reckoning. Just a thought. Because honestly, there's a lot to answer for.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992750" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox prime-time host Laura Ingraham speculated that “Fauci thinks this retirement would save him from a congressional investigation or a subpoena.” </strong>She then interviewed Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who said congressional Republicans would want to investigate Fauci based on the conspiracy theory that the COVID-19 virus was human-made. [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992746" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing radio host Buck Sexton</strong> claimed, “Sociopathic liar and political hack Fauci is making a run for it before Republicans can take over the House.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992779" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing radio host Dana Loesch claimed Fauci “doesn't want that GOP-controlled House oversight.”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992780" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox prime-time host Jesse Watters claimed that Fauci “seems to think stepping down before Republicans take the House will get him off scot-free.”</strong> Watters made this pronouncement just hours after Fauci appeared on Fox and told Neil Cavuto that he would not avoid appearing before Congress. [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Jesse Watters Primetime</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992768" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">The National Pulse’s Raheem Kassam:</strong> “BREAKING: Fauci to step down right before Republicans are expected to take control of Congress and commence investigations into his funding of the Wuhan Lab and pandemic response.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992782" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp claimed “it's no coincidence” that Fauci announced he will step down in December</strong>, noting that it “is right after Republicans will take back the House and immediately plan oversight into our pandemic response and his funding of gain of function research at the Wuhan Lab.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992781" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: times;">Calls for congressional Republicans to investigate Fauci </span></h3><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox prime-time host Sean Hannity declared that “Fauci still needs to be held accountable for all of the lies and misdirections.”</strong> He then interviewed Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who predicted that if there is a Republican-controlled Congress, it would subpoena Fauci to testify next year. [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hannity</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992749" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox’s “news side” presented a more respectable face for the right’s determination to investigate Fauci. </strong>Fox contributor Marc Thiessen discussed the need for an “after-action study” of the nation’s COVID-19 response, while blaming Fauci for various aspects of both the pandemic response and its economic consequences. Concluding the segment, co-anchor Bill Hemmer said that in “2023, I think we’ll see him again.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America’s Newsroom</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992748" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox anchor Sandra Smith asked Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS): “What do you want to see happen as far as holding Dr. Anthony Fauci accountable for his actions during this pandemic?”</strong> Marshall then repeatedly and falsely accused Fauci of covering up the supposed creation of COVID-19 in a lab, statements which Smith did not challenge. [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America Reports</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992751" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>; FactCheck.org, <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2022/05/scicheck-navarro-falsely-links-fauci-to-pandemic-origin/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">5/19/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Former White House adviser Peter Navarro said on Newsmax that the government should to “take that SOB’s passport” so Fauci cannot flee a Republican-led congressional investigation.</strong> Navarro himself was recently indicted for a charge of contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. [Newsmax, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Eric Bolling: The Balance</em>, <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1562050439100747776" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>; NPR, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/04/1103075908/former-trump-adviser-peter-navarro-indicted-for-not-cooperating-with-jan-6-commi" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">6/4/22</a>]</span></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: times;">Calls for Fauci’s to face criminal charges and/or prison</span></h3><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Stop the Steal” organizer Alex Bruesewitz wrote that Fauci “should be investigated, and quite frankly arrested, for what he put our country through.”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992770" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>; Media Matters, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/right-wing-media-have-been-dismissing-downplaying-and-attacking-january-6" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">7/27/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk declared that Fauci “belongs in prison.”</strong> He continued, “Seize the passports. Freeze his pension, distribute it to his victims. Lawyer up. Time to hold him accountable for the last 3 years.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992771" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing radio host Clay Travis wrote that Fauci “belongs in prison,” claiming he is the “most destructive bureaucrat in United States history.”</strong> Travis also said Fauci’s “‘leadership’ on covid will — in the decades ahead — come to be seen as one of the greatest and most destructive failures in our nation’s history.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992772" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing podcasters Diamond & Silk: “Fauci doesn't need to just step down, he should be arrested for Crimes Against Humanity!”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992773" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li></ul></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-size: 19.2px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;"><span style="font-family: times;">Attacks on Fauci’s character</span></h3><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">In his opening monologue, Fox's Carlson said, “On some level, even Tony Fauci knows that Tony Fauci is in fact a dangerous fraud.”</strong> Carlson further elaborated that Fauci “has done things that in most countries at most times in history would be understood perfectly clearly to be very serious crimes.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992750" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy called Fauci an “authoritarian monster.”</strong> She claimed Fauci “led our country on a Chinese-style approach instead of an American-style where we look at science.” [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Five</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992767" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington Examiner’s Haisten Willis described Fauci as someone some people “feel is … self-promoting, unaccountable, and even liable for helping start the pandemic.”</strong> [Washington Examiner, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-praises-fauci-retirement" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox News contributor and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen: “Never has anybody been so wrong about so much for so long and been so lionized as Anthony Fauci.”</strong> [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">America’s Newsroom</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992748" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Sean Duffy, Fox News contributor and former member of Congress, repeatedly accused Fauci of having “Chinese” principles instead of American ones in his supposed use of the power of government.</strong> [Fox News, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Faulkner Focus</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992747" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox News’ Katie Pavlich said it is “sickening” the way Fauci supposedly let “power and fame” go to his head.</strong> Pavlich tweeted, “In March 2020 Fauci actually told the truth about who Wuhan coronavirus was deadly for, the elderly and those with comorbidities. He said it was ‘very clear.’ He also said drug store masks don’t work. Then, he got a taste of power and fame he just couldn’t let go. Sickening.” [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992775" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; outline: 0px; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;">New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz on Fauci: “His half-century of ‘public service’ was a disaster for us. His handling of covid should be studied in the future as a blueprint of what not to do.”</strong> [Twitter, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992774" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/22/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro called Fauci “a true douchebag.”</strong> [The Daily Wire, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ben Shapiro Show</em>, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992755" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">08/23/22</a>]</span></li><li aria-level="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em; padding-left: 3rem; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: times;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Right-wing media gadfly Benny Johnson called Fauci “the most evil and malevolent character in my lifetime.”</strong> [<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Benny Show</em>, via YouTube, <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992756" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">8/23/22</a>]</span></li></ul></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-28760203799330645262022-08-24T17:03:00.002-04:002022-08-24T17:03:43.617-04:00DOJ releases unredacted Barr memo on Trump obstruction in Mueller probe<p><br /></p><section class="mb7" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: var(--spacing-7);"><div class="article-inline-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--article-body--byline--color); font-family: var(--article-body--byline--font-family); font-size: var(--article-body--byline--font-size); font-weight: var(--article-body--byline--font-weight); line-height: var(--article-body--byline--line-height); margin: var(--article-body--byline--margin);">By <span class="byline-name" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/author/ryan-j-reilly-ncpn1288345" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan J. Reilly</a></span> and <span class="byline-name" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/author/dareh-gregorian-ncpn925686" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Dareh Gregorian</a> via NBC News</span></div></section><div class="article-body__content" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: PublicoText, Georgia, "Publico Text", "Times New Roman", Times, Baskerville; font-size: 18px;"><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;"><br /></p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;">WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday released the unredacted version of a 2019 memo that made the case to then-Attorney General William Barr that President Donald Trump should not be charged with obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The nine-page <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22187568-20190324-memorandum-to-ag-from-dag-re-mueller-report-review" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">memo</a> from Mar. 24, 2019, was written by then-Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel and Ed O’Callaghan, who served as the DOJ's principal associate deputy attorney general. Barr, a critic of then-special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, had announced that DOJ would not prosecute the case the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-report-conclusions-trump-congress-attorney-general-william-barr-n986611" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">same day</a> the memo was sent to Barr.</p><div id="taboolaReadMoreBelow" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Released in response to a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/court-orders-justice-department-release-russia-probe-memo-trump-obstru-rcna44043" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> by a government watchdog group, the memo states that volume II of Mueller's report "is not, in our judgment, sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes." It was made public following a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/court-orders-justice-department-release-russia-probe-memo-trump-obstru-rcna44043" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">ruling</a> from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Even if there weren't any constitutional barriers to charging a president, the memo argued, the DOJ should decline to charge Trump.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The Mueller probe did not establish any "underlying crime related to Russian interference" and it wasn't clear that Trump didn't want the investigation, the memo's authors wrote in their rationale against bringing charges.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">"In the absence of an underlying offense, the most compelling inference in evaluating the President's conduct is that he reasonably believed that the Special Counsel's investigation was interfering with his governing agenda," the memo states. "Even if the President were objectively wrong about the intentions of the Special Counsel, many, if not all, of his actions could be viewed as lacking the intent element under the relevant statutes."</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">Barr cited the memo by the department’s Office of Legal Counsel as a reason for not pursuing the charges against Trump after he received <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mueller-report-conclusions-trump-congress-attorney-general-william-barr-n986611" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Mueller’s report</a> on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The portion of the memo that Barr cited was released last year.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">When the left-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sought the memo under the Freedom of Information Act, the DOJ argued it wasn’t required to release the document under an exception covering materials intended to aid senior officials in making decision.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">In a ruling last year, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/doj-partially-discloses-memo-barr-used-clear-trump-obstruction-russia-n1268445" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">criticized</a> the government's position, saying the memo did not fit the exemption for “deliberative” documents. In an earlier ruling, she said Barr's mind had already been made up before the memo was written.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The Justice Department appealed the decision ordering the release of the full document, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/court-orders-justice-department-release-russia-probe-memo-trump-obstru-rcna44043" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"> ruled against DOJ</a> last week. “Because the Department did not tie the memorandum to deliberations about the relevant decision, the Department failed to justify its reliance on the deliberative-process privilege,” the ruling said.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">The Mueller report identified 10 episodes that could be considered potential obstruction of justice, but did not come to a conclusion on whether to charge the president for them.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">After reading the Mueller report, many people had strongly disagreed with the analysis laid out in the memo. Hundreds of former federal prosecutors <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/hundreds-former-prosecutors-say-trump-would-have-been-indicted-if-n1002436" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">argued</a> in an open letter that Trump would have been charged with obstruction were he not president.</p><p class="" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1.5rem 0px;">In a statement Wednesday, CREW said the unsealed portions of the memo present "a breathtakingly generous view of the law and facts for Donald Trump. It significantly twists the facts and the law to benefit Donald Trump and does not comport with a serious reading of the law of obstruction of justice or the facts as found by Special Counsel Mueller."</p></div><div aria-label="Advertisement" class="
content-group ad" id="pol-05-wrap" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #696d70; flex-grow: 1; font-family: din-2014, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.875rem; overflow: hidden;"></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-22980762385633598622022-08-24T16:40:00.000-04:002022-08-24T16:40:45.769-04:00Growing Evidence Against a Republican Wave<h1 class="bylineMedium_mhd8vg textColorLightByline_up2uu7 sansDemiBold_1e7tjhi-o_O-byline_1ggzsgu" data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(105, 105, 105) !important; letter-spacing: -0.2px !important; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px !important;"><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">By</span><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.2" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nate Cohn via New York Times</span></span></span></h1><p> <span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;">Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, it’s increasingly hard to see the once-clear signs of a G.O.P. advantage.</span></p><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">At the beginning of this year’s midterm campaign, analysts and political operatives had every reason to expect a strong Republican showing this November. President Biden’s approval rating was in the low 40s, and the president’s party has a long history of struggling in midterm elections.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But as the start of the general election campaign nears, it’s becoming increasingly hard to find any concrete signs of Republican strength.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Tuesday’s strong Democratic showing in a special congressional election in New York’s 19th District is only the latest example. On paper, this classic battleground district in the Hudson Valley and Catskills is exactly where the Republicans would be expected to flip a seat in a so-called wave election. But the Democrat Pat Ryan prevailed over a strong Republican nominee, Marc Molinaro, by around two percentage points, outperforming Mr. Biden’s narrow win in the district two years ago.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The result adds to a growing pile of evidence suggesting that Democrats have rebounded in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in late June to overturn Roe v. Wade. No matter the indicator, it’s hard to see the once-clear signs of a Republican advantage.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">One special election would be easy to dismiss. But it’s not alone.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">There have been five special congressional elections since the court’s Dobbs ruling overturned Roe, and Democrats have outperformed Mr. Biden’s 2020 showing in four of them. In the fifth district, Alaska’s at-large House special, the ranked-choice voting count is not complete, but they appear poised to outperform him there as well.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">On average, Republicans carried the four completed districts by 3.7 percentage points, compared with Donald J. Trump’s 7.7-point edge in the same districts two years ago. The results aren’t merely worse than expected for Republicans; they’re straightforwardly poor. Republicans need to fare better than Mr. Trump, who lost the national vote by 4.5 points in 2020, to retake the House — let alone contemplate winning the Senate.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But strength among high-turnout white voters can get a party pretty far in low-turnout midterm elections, which tend to have a relatively whiter electorate. Perhaps in part for that reason, there is a decent historical relationship between special election results and midterm outcomes. And before Dobbs, Republicans were outrunning Mr. Trump in special congressional elections. Since then, the pattern has reversed.</p><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">While there’s plenty of room for debate about exactly what the special election results mean for November, there’s no dispute that the results are plainly positive for Democrats.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Democrats have made steady gains on the generic congressional ballot, a poll question asking voters whether they prefer Democrats or Republicans for Congress.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Overall, Democrats now have the slightest advantage on this measure, according to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/generic-ballot/" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">FiveThirtyEight’s tracker</a>. That represents about a three-point swing toward the Democrats since mid-June, when Republicans led before the Dobbs ruling.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">A tight generic ballot represents a real improvement for Democrats. If the polls are right — a big “if” after the last few cycles — it suggests a fairly competitive district-by-district battle for control of the House, rather than the expected Republican rout.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Realistically, Republicans would remain clearly favored — the House map is still modestly tilted in their favor, and Democrats would have to win an outsize share of the competitive races to hold the chamber. But the notion that Democrats can even dream about House control is a remarkable turn from earlier in the cycle, when the House was all but penciled into the Republican column.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It’s still a little early to look at polls pitting Democratic candidates against Republican ones in specific races. Many candidates remain unknown, and the general election campaign is just getting underway.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But the early state and district polls do look relatively promising for Democrats. That’s especially true in the Senate, where a simple polling average might even show Democrats poised to make gains.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The House polls are consistent with the generic ballot results. On average, Democrats are running about 4.7 points behind Mr. Biden’s performance across 40 nonpartisan House polls taken since the Dobbs decision. That would be consistent with a close national vote.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">After the last few cycles of polling misfires, there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical of state surveys — especially in the relatively white working-class battleground states where the polls seem to have consistently underestimated Republicans.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But here again, the long-awaited “red wave” is nowhere to be found.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">This is a bit of an odd one, but it’s a surprisingly useful measure and it doesn’t show much of a red wave either.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Washington State has a top-two primary in which all of the candidates from both parties appear on the same primary ballot; the top two candidates advance to the general election.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">As a result, the Washington primary is a lot more like a general election than the typical primary — not only is every voter eligible, but voters can also select the Democrat or Republican of their choosing in every race. For good measure, Washington has universal vote-by-mail, which tends to keep the turnout pretty high. It’s more like the typical midterm electorate than some of the recent special elections.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The results of the Washington primary usually do a decent job of predicting the outcome of the fall election. In some years, Democrats do a bit better in November than in the primary; in other years, Republicans do. But it’s not usually hugely different. In retrospect, the solid Republican showing in the 2020 Washington primary was one of the better reasons to doubt the polls heading into November 2020.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">This cycle, the Democratic candidates for House ran two points behind Mr. Biden’s performance in 2020 (excluding the two districts where pro-impeachment Republicans in safely Republican districts clearly benefited from considerable levels of strategic crossover support from Democrats).</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Yet again, it’s a result that’s consistent with a fairly evenly divided national vote for the House.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Of all the indicators, primary elections are probably the single messiest measure of the national political environment. From state to state and cycle to cycle, voters may either have a very compelling reason to show up — or no reason to vote whatsoever. A strong or weak Democratic or Republican primary turnout can mean absolutely nothing.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But if all the states are added together, the vagaries of individual state primary elections more or less cancel out. Over the last few decades, partisan primary turnout does correlate relatively well with the results of midterm elections.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">In 15 primaries since the court’s ruling, 52.5 percent of primary voters have cast Republican primary ballots compared with 48 percent in the same states in 2018, according to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://twitter.com/WinWithJMC/status/1562256144437067776?s=20&t=1bK-ZHjSka_a-gJXWHQ-eg" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">data compiled</a> by the pollster John Couvillon. The last midterm is used as the point of comparison because of the one-party presidential primary in 2020.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Of course, 2018 was a good year for Democrats. In the end, they won 54 percent of the major party vote and carried the House easily. So they have room to fare quite a bit worse than they did in 2018 and still put up a respectable showing. Indeed, a 4.5-point shift from 2018 would yield a pretty close House national vote, with maybe a slight Republican edge depending on how one looks at uncontested races.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">And that 4.5-point Republican overperformance is a little worse for Republicans than earlier in the year. Before Roe, Republicans were running 6.7 points better than in the 2018 primaries in the same states. It’s hard to read a lot into this shift — primaries, again, are very idiosyncratic, with the competitiveness of different races and eligibility rules making a big difference. But the shift, however unreliable, is nonetheless consistent with the broader national story.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">There’s still one measure that’s positive for Republicans: President Biden’s approval rating.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It’s stuck in the low 40s, according to FiveThirtyEight, though it seems to have risen along with Democratic fortunes over the last few months.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It’s hard to think of any precedent for the president’s party to fare even half decently with such an unpopular president. The closest recent analogue might be Jimmy Carter in 1978. He held control of Congress despite an approval rating around 50 percent. (His approval rating was similar to Mr. Biden’s in August, but it increased after the Camp David Accords in September.)</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Perhaps someone could construe the Democratic hold in the House in the 1950 midterms as somewhat analogous, though Democrats lost 28 seats and saw a net seven-point shift toward Republicans.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Ultimately, it’s possible that Mr. Biden’s approval rating will drag down the Democrats. It may even begin to drag them down by the other measures even before the fall election.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But for now, his approval rating stands apart as the only hard measurement that argues for a decisive Republican victory this fall.</p></div></div></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-4257654917450945582022-08-24T16:19:00.000-04:002022-08-24T16:19:25.805-04:00Biden to cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for most borrowers<p> <span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">From the Washington Post:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">President Biden said Wednesday he will cancel up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for many borrowers — and double that amount for Pell Grant recipients — a move that could offer some level of forgiveness for up to 43 million people.</span></span></p><div class="article-body" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;"><p class="font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The forgiveness is expected to apply to Americans earning under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for married couples who file taxes jointly. The White House estimates that nearly 90 percent of relief will go to people earning less than $75,000 and that roughly 20 million borrowers could have their debt completely canceled.</span></p></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-5797467785491075302022-08-23T17:56:00.002-04:002022-08-23T17:56:48.054-04:00President Biden and Nazi Twitter <p> <span style="font-size: medium;">One of the freedoms I got back when I decided to bring back the blog is I can call right-wing pundits, token black Republicans, whatever the name I want, and don't have to worry about Twitter sending me "most people won't like this" bullshit. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GALO0d3Hki9jHjIsNDJ-TUBJVFn9p_9_fQ3ZhB3v_Wds-2dqggitg6yAR_wE_7iZQNtXPP-j_NxQGqutrZrN_-BWNpMo-KrgG12A5XzS9v4RvqpxcbOhy7ZVy32R-MURpuqbQUtEMn-ugFI8HppFUD6Z6x7niBJBjmkr1BXLSdK0GTVtWw/s604/conservatives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="604" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5GALO0d3Hki9jHjIsNDJ-TUBJVFn9p_9_fQ3ZhB3v_Wds-2dqggitg6yAR_wE_7iZQNtXPP-j_NxQGqutrZrN_-BWNpMo-KrgG12A5XzS9v4RvqpxcbOhy7ZVy32R-MURpuqbQUtEMn-ugFI8HppFUD6Z6x7niBJBjmkr1BXLSdK0GTVtWw/s320/conservatives.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Right-wing Twitter is a landfill of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and misinformation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As part of their misinformation campaign, Nazi Twitter has decided to play the projection game with President Biden. From a professional glue fumes inhaler Dan Bongino to the dipshit, horse fucker Cat Turd, they project what was true about their beloved Donald Trump, AKA the Bum. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">They attack President Biden on how he speaks, knowing Biden has to talk in a certain way to avoid stuttering, while their guy Trump<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-language-level-speaking-skills-age-eight-year-old-vocabulary-analysis-a8149926.html"> talks at the level of an 8-year-old boy</a>. Donald Trump only knows 14 words, yet these special ed reject motherfuckers are trying to cap on President Biden's speech, hoe, please.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Dan Bongino looks like they tried to turn Donkey Kong human but stopped halfway loves to Tweet whatever the date is and say Joe Biden is the worst president ever, one fuck you and fuck your mother for having you. Motherfucker if I put a 3k on the table and ask you to list four actual Donald Trump accomplishments, he couldn't do it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">As president, the only thing Donald Trump got done was pass a <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/28/tax-cuts-trump-gop-analysis-430781">2 trillion tax cut for wealthy Republican donors</a>, and if John McCain didn't give a thumbs down. Trump would have taken healthcare away from millions of Americans.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Donald Trump knew how deadly COVID-19 is but only told <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-told-bob-woodward-he-knew-february-covid-19-was-n1239658">Bob Woodward </a>and fuck Bob Woodward for sitting on that story for his book.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Lastly, the man left office finishing with the record of worst job creation than goddamn <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-02/trump-s-gdp-record-was-the-worst-since-hoover#xj4y7vzkg">Hebert Hoover</a>, and these frog-face bitches want to call President Biden the worst president? Fuck out of here with that.</span><br /></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-28453246464754013372022-08-23T16:58:00.000-04:002022-08-23T16:58:13.250-04:00Tucker Carlson uses enforcement of food safety laws as occasion to attack trans kids<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> John Knefel via Media Matters</span></p><p><span style="color: #3a434e;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">On Monday evening Fox News’ top star Tucker Carlson used the federal <br /><br /><br /><br /> government’s enforcement of food safety laws as an opportunity to attack trans kids, arbitrarily conflating two unrelated issues for the sole purpose of maligning children and the LGBTQ community.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYLGoB-fbC5kqgsknTSv-Cw-kNZoJd6Y7E_9zzZSZG9ZtIcvfzdWcxbV_Adg0dG4dWoNAQU3wnojsc9ZgYE6XAUeMuuuXrmEBsQi01MRn2i7TNUwQuXmto1QvG3QPVtbE6wzVe1JwppuaBp0IzzWUSHgDDGMHYYTngkL_IGiyLoBFmQGTWg/s630/DKIT-50UQAANFjM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="630" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTYLGoB-fbC5kqgsknTSv-Cw-kNZoJd6Y7E_9zzZSZG9ZtIcvfzdWcxbV_Adg0dG4dWoNAQU3wnojsc9ZgYE6XAUeMuuuXrmEBsQi01MRn2i7TNUwQuXmto1QvG3QPVtbE6wzVe1JwppuaBp0IzzWUSHgDDGMHYYTngkL_IGiyLoBFmQGTWg/w274-h287/DKIT-50UQAANFjM.jpg" width="274" /></a></div></span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Carlson’s guest was Jeremy Loffredo, reporter for the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ezra-levant-distances-the-rebel-from-the-alt-right-as-contributors-resign" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">far-right</a> Canadian outlet Rebel News, which has spread Covid vaccine <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/09/justin-trudeau-rebel-media-canada-vaccine-misinformation" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">misinformation</a> and has a history of climate change <a href="https://www.desmog.com/ezra-levant/#s44" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">denialism</a>. Carlson invited Loffredo on to discuss the story of Amos Miller, an Amish farmer who has violated food safety regulations for years. Carlson and Loffredo framed the issue as an example of government overreach in violation of Miller’s “religious beliefs.” In fact, Miller’s farm is a public health risk; the Food and Drug Administration found listeria in his raw milk in 2016 and has been attempting to get him to comply with regulations since then, according to <a href="https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-county-farmer-should-be-jailed-for-not-paying-fines-related-to-food-safety-feds/article_9e155136-19ad-11ed-98ac-af5d944071fd.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Lancaster Online</a>.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Loffredo argued that the Biden administration was singling out and punishing Miller because his farm doesn’t use fertilizer or gasoline – two commodities whose price has been affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“Amos has completely eliminated any risk coming from the international or domestic politics of the Biden administration and they're coming after him for it,” Loffredo said.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“Maybe if he promises to put more chemicals in the milk that turn kids trans, they'll lay off,” Carlson responded. As the Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlsons-new-alex-jones-idea-is-that-chemicals-in-milk-turn-kids-trans" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">notes</a>, Carlson’s bizarre comment echoed his <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/conservative-media-outlets-are-embracing-alex-jones-more-ever" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">friend</a> Alex Jones’ infamous remarks about chemicals turning frogs gay.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The government is seeking $305,065 in total costs related to Miller’s regulatory non-compliance and subsequent refusals to pay his initial fines.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Miller has also associated with a group the Department of Justice <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/bad-romance-when-courts-wont-let-lawyers-clients-part-ways-2021-11-16/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">describes</a> as part of the sovereign citizen movement, which neither Carlson or Loffredo mentioned. The group, Prairie Star National, claimed to represent Miller in court despite not being licensed to act as court officials, and the judge <a href="https://sovereigncitizenwatch.com/2021/11/11/organic-farm-owner-in-legal-fight-with-government-has-adopted-sovereign-citizen-strategies/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">forced</a> Miller’s actual lawyer to remain on the case. Sovereign Citizens hold to an anti-government ideology that claims its adherents aren’t bound by state or federal law. Members of the movement are typically <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/sovereign-citizens-movement" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">associated</a> with tax avoidance and the kind of regulatory malfeasance Miller has engaged in, although some in the movement have also been involved in acts of violence directed at state actors.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Carlson incorporated the enforcement action into a broader persecution narrative that he offers his viewers every night. “So they went after gyms, organic farmers, and churches,” Carlson said, referring to the Biden administration. “So maybe they’re against anything that’s wholesome and edifying, that makes you stronger and healthier, and in favor of everything that diminishes you and makes you more dependent.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">“Amos would have been past this a long time ago had Amos not been listening to extreme advice,” Miller’s lawyer <a href="https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-county-farmer-should-be-jailed-for-not-paying-fines-related-to-food-safety-feds/article_9e155136-19ad-11ed-98ac-af5d944071fd.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">told</a> Lancaster Online. “He has this extreme group of people who are very antigovernment. They really bent his ear.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Carlson has repeatedly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-lists-trumps-coup-plotters-who-he-says-should-never-be-punished" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">claimed</a> that the Biden administration is deploying armed agents of the state to target and jail conservatives for their political beliefs. Most recently, he incorrectly told his viewers that new funding for the IRS would be spent on <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-medias-conspiracy-theory-militarized-irs-really-about-protecting-wealthy-donors" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">militarizing the agency</a> to audit and raid the homes of Biden’s political enemies and working-class conservatives. In reality, the funding is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/06/inflation-reduction-act-irs/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">directed</a> towards increasing the agency’s capacity to investigate and prosecute extremely rich individuals and corporations for tax avoidance. Approximately 1 percent of the new funding is going towards hiring agents who are allowed to carry arms, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/irs-biden-cruz.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">according</a> to the New York Times.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This segment is more evidence that Carlson will use any occasion to reverse-engineer an attack on an outgroup, be that trans children, migrants, or any of his other regular targets.</span></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-15806217701429449902022-08-23T16:43:00.000-04:002022-08-23T16:43:23.391-04:00OAN host uses Nazi youth book burning to push book banning<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Via Media Matters,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> <span style="color: #3a434e;">On August 22, OAN host Kara McKinney defended a right-wing push to ban LGBTQ books from schools, using a photograph of a Nazi book burning in her commentary. “I think banning pornographic books from school libraries is not only justifiable – it's the only moral option,” McKinney said. “It's our duty, in fact, to purge our schools of such filth.”</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Before the Nazis took power in Germany, the “<a href="https://magnus-hirschfeld.de/ausstellungen/institute/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Institute for Sexual Science</a>” was a global pioneer in studying homosexuality and transgender identity, and its founder, Magnus Hirschfeld, was a known advocate for LGBTQ equality. After taking power, the Nazis labeled the institute “offensive for public morals,” shut it down, and burned its contents on May 6, 1933.</span></p><p style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">KARA MCKINNEY (HOST): Now, oftentimes many of us on the right get so upset with the left that we end up digging ourselves into a hole by just trying to argue the exact opposite of what they are. For example, on something like this a typical response you might hear from someone on the right is that of course, Weingarten's tweet was wrong because only the left wants to ban books – the right doesn't want to.</span></p><p style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But that's not entirely accurate. I think banning pornographic books from school libraries is not only justifiable – it's the only moral option. It's our duty, in fact, to purge our schools of such filth.</span></p><p style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">So what is the difference between the types of so-called book bans that the right advocates as opposed to what the left demands? Why is one good and the other bad?</span></p><p style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Now, one might pause here and say that both are wrong because you can't legislate morality – which is hilarious and flat-out wrong, because every law from murder, all the way down to what's a fair share to pay in taxes are all moral questions at their heart.</span></p><p style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">For too many years the right has abandoned their moral high ground on such matters in order to accept the opposing sides' lies about there being some magical value-neutral space to discuss important issues without any harkening back to religious or traditional principles. And all that did was create a vacuum of Judeo-Christian principles which was consequently filled by various left-wing ideologies masquerading as almost pseudo-religions at this point.</span></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-14653596700330027222022-08-23T16:30:00.003-04:002022-08-23T16:30:57.093-04:00Two Men Convicted in Plot to Kidnap Michigan’s Governor<h1 class="bylineMedium_mhd8vg textColorLightByline_up2uu7 sansDemiBold_1e7tjhi-o_O-byline_1ggzsgu" data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(105, 105, 105) !important; letter-spacing: -0.2px !important; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px !important;"><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.0" style="box-sizing: border-box;">By</span><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </span><span data-reactid=".0.1.0.0.0.0.2.0.0.3.0.0.2" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Mitch Smith via New York Times</span></span></span></h1><p><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The trial came months after a different federal jury did not return any convictions in the case, one of the country’s highest-profile domestic terror prosecutions.</span></span></p><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal jury in Michigan found two men guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kidnap the state’s Democratic governor, ending one of the highest-profile domestic terrorism cases in recent history and providing a measure of vindication to prosecutors who brought the case to trial a second time after a previous jury declined to convict.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Prosecutors presented the men, Barry Croft and Adam Fox, who face up to life in prison, as threats to democracy who planned to capture Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in 2020, detonate explosives to disrupt the police response and perhaps touch off a civil war in the process.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“You can’t just strap on an AR-15 and body armor and snatch the governor,” Nils Kessler, a federal prosecutor, said during closing arguments.</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Proving the case meant persuading jurors to trust a sprawling F.B.I. investigation that embedded several federal operatives around the group. Among them were an informant who became second-in-command of a militia and an undercover agent who offered to provide explosives. Earlier this year, another jury failed to reach verdicts for Mr. Croft and Mr. Fox, and acquitted two of their co-defendants.</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“In America, the F.B.I. is not supposed to create domestic terrorists so that the F.B.I. can arrest them,” Christopher Gibbons, a lawyer for Mr. Fox, said during closing arguments.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Defense lawyers repeatedly criticized the investigation, arguing that their clients were big talkers whose worst instincts were preyed upon by undercover F.B.I. personnel who pretended to befriend them.</span></p><div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Joshua Blanchard, a lawyer for Mr. Croft, blamed the government for luring his client, a truck driver, from his home in Delaware to events in Michigan and other Midwestern states where a plan was discussed. Mr. Blanchard told jurors that “the F.B.I. has told us that the truth doesn’t matter to them” and that “this isn’t Russia.”</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“They weren’t about to let the truth get in the way of the story they want to tell,” Mr. Blanchard said.</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">This trial played out amid a charged political environment, with Ms. Whitmer campaigning for re-election and F.B.I. agents <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/us/politics/fbi-search-trump.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">searching</a> former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida home during the week of opening arguments. Many conservatives denounced that search as a weaponization of the Justice Department and an example of F.B.I. overreach.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Mr. Trump, who was president when the F.B.I. arrested Mr. Croft and Mr. Fox, has personally cast doubt on the prosecution. <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?522180-1/conservative-political-action-conference-president-donald-trump" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">In a recent speech</a> at a conservative conference, he appeared to allude to the Michigan case, calling it “fake” and saying “Gretchen Whitmer was in less danger than the people in this room right now, it seems to me.”</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In court, defense lawyers told jurors that they had an opportunity to send a message to the F.B.I. with their verdicts. Prosecutors defended the F.B.I.’s work and said federal officials acted appropriately to head off a serious threat. Both men were convicted of kidnapping conspiracy and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. Mr. Croft was also convicted of possessing an unregistered destructive device.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“The F.B.I. did stop this,” Mr. Kessler told jurors. He added: “Thank God they did it before anybody got hurt or killed.”</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Neither man had a visible reaction when the guilty verdicts were read. One woman on the jury spoke in a strained voice when asked to confirm her verdict, and later wiped her eyes. As the defendants were led away in handcuffs and leg shackles, a woman in the courtroom gallery yelled out, “I love you, Adam.”</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In a statement, Governor Whitmer said the verdicts on Tuesday showed “that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed.”</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“But,” she added, “we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics. Plots against public officials and threats to the F.B.I. are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.”</span></p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Defense lawyers raised questions about the jury and suggested additional legal action was likely. They said that a ruling from the judge in the case, Robert J. Jonker, prevented them from discussing their jury concerns in detail.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Early in the trial, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/08/12/whitmer-juror-bombshell-emerges-threatens-upend-terror-trial/10306366002/" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">The Detroit News reported</a> that a motion that Mr. Blanchard filed included claims that one juror told co-workers about wanting to be on the jury and of having already reached a conclusion about the case. The motion was sealed by court staff, and Judge Jonker rejected an attempt by Mr. Blanchard after the verdict to make that document public again.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">“I believe that justice should happen in public,” Mr. Blanchard said outside court.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">During the trial at the federal courthouse in downtown Grand Rapids, prosecutors told jurors that the men were upset about Covid-19 restrictions and that they plotted a kidnapping raid on the governor’s vacation home, which they scouted out on “reconnaissance missions.” But in a departure from their approach in the previous trial, they took pains to note social media posts that the men made calling for political violence long before F.B.I. informants entered the case, and they repeatedly defended the use of undercover agents.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The investigation of the plot was presented from the start as indicative of the rising threat of political violence and right-wing domestic terrorism. That threat became all the more clear on Jan. 6, 2021, after the arrests in Michigan, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and tried to block the certification of the presidential election.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">But even as two men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/us/ty-garbin-whitmer-kidnapping-plot.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">pleaded guilty</a> to kidnapping conspiracy in the Michigan case and agreed to testify, problems with the investigation were emerging. One F.B.I. agent was fired last year after being <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/12/20/ex-fbi-agent-whitmer-kidnap-plot-enters-plea-case-tied-wifes-assault/8969608002/" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">charged with domestic violence</a>. Another agent, who supervised a key informant, tried to build a private security consulting firm based in part on some of his work for the F.B.I., <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/michigan-kidnapping-plot-fbi-agent-business" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">according to a BuzzFeed News report</a>. Jurors did not hear the details of those incidents.</span></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Outside the courthouse, David Porter, an assistant special agent in charge for the F.B.I.’s Detroit office, said the verdicts showed that threatening or carrying out political violence remained unacceptable, and that the bureau “will continue to investigate anyone who seeks violence in furtherance of ideology.”</span></p></div></div></div></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-2523590491931604782022-08-23T16:23:00.004-04:002022-08-23T16:23:56.076-04:00Trump Kept More Than 700 Pages of Classified Documents, Letter From National Archives Says<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> By Alan Feuer via New York Times</span></p><p><span style="background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;">The letter, which was sent to the former president’s lawyers, described the state of alarm in the Justice Department as officials began to realize the nature of the documents kept at Mar-a-Lago.</span></p><div class="css-53u6y8" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "FreightText W01 Book"; font-size: 21px;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">President Donald J. Trump took more than 700 pages of classified documents, including some related to the nation’s most covert intelligence operations, to his private club and residence in Florida when he left the White House in January 2021, according to a letter that the National Archives sent to his lawyers this year.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The letter, dated May 10 and written by the acting U.S. archivist, Debra Steidel Wall, to one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, described the state of alarm in the Justice Department as officials there began to realize how serious the documents were.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It also suggested that top department prosecutors and members of the intelligence community were delayed in conducting a damage assessment about the documents’ removal from the White House as Mr. Trump’s lawyers tried to argue that some of them might have been protected by executive privilege.</p><div>The letter was <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/full-text-national-archives-letter-trump-classified-documents" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">disclosed</a> on Monday night by one of Mr. Trump’s allies in the news media, John Solomon, who also serves as one of the former president’s representatives to the archives. The archives then <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/national-archives-letter-trump-fbi/1a5fa3f08cdb0f7d/full.pdf" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">released the letter</a> on Tuesday.</div><div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The New York Times <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-documents.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">reported</a> on Monday that investigators had recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club, with each document potentially comprising multiple pages.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The letter from the archives was made public shortly after Mr. Trump’s lawyers <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/trump-warrant-affidavit-reinhart.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">filed a legal motion</a> on Monday asking a federal judge in Florida to appoint an independent arbiter, known as a special master, to weed out any documents protected by executive privilege from a trove that was removed during an F.B.I. search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The motion, filed in Federal District Court in Southern Florida, came as a different federal judge was deciding how much — if any — of the underlying <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/us/politics/trump-fbi-affidavit-warrant.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">affidavit used to justify the search warrant should be publicly released</a>.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Mr. Solomon, appearing on Tuesday on a podcast run by Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former White House aide, tried to suggest that Ms. Wall’s letter somehow implicated President Biden in the struggle over the classified documents. At one point in the letter, Ms. Wall told Mr. Corcoran that Mr. Biden had agreed with her and others that Mr. Trump’s attempts to assert executive privilege over the materials were baseless.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But the letter never indicated that Mr. Biden was in charge of the decision rejecting Mr. Trump’s claims of privilege or that he had anything to do with the search of Mar-a-Lago, as Mr. Solomon suggested.</p><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">In fact, the letter could further implicate Mr. Trump in a potential crime. It confirmed, for instance, that the former president had kept at Mar-a-Lago documents related to <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/us/sap-classified-top-secret-donald-trump.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">Special Access Programs</a>, some of the nation’s most closely held secrets, before the F.B.I. searched the property.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The Times had <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/11/us/politics/trump-fbi-subpoena.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(240, 96, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: #f06040; text-decoration-line: none; transition: border-bottom-color 0.15s ease-out 0s, color 0.2s ease-out 0s;">previously reported</a> that the investigation stemmed in part from an effort to recover documents related to special access programs, a designation that is typically reserved for extremely sensitive operations carried out by the United States abroad or for closely held technologies and capabilities.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The search was more broadly part of an inquiry into whether the former president had willfully retained highly sensitive national defense papers and obstructed a federal investigation.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The letter also deepened understanding of the back-and-forth between the archives and Mr. Trump’s lawyers over how to handle retrieving the papers.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It described how archives officials had “ongoing communications” with Mr. Trump’s representatives last year about presidential records that were missing from their files. Those communications, Ms. Wall wrote, resulted in the archives retrieving 15 boxes of materials in January, some of them containing highly classified information marked top secret and others that were related to Special Access Programs.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">But even after the archives retrieved the records, the letter said, Mr. Trump’s lawyers, in consultation with the White House Counsel’s Office, asked for time to determine whether — and how many of — the documents were protected by executive privilege, leading to negotiations that delayed the F.B.I., the Justice Department and the intelligence community from assessing the materials.</p></div><aside class="css-ew4tgv" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(216, 216, 216); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px 27px 0px 26px;"></aside></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Those negotiations continued through April, even as Ms. Wall alerted Mr. Trump’s lawyers about the “urgency” of the agencies’ request to see the documents, which touched on “important national security interests,” the letter said. Ms. Wall ultimately rejected Mr. Trump’s claims of executive privilege after consulting with a top Justice Department official — a decision that Mr. Biden deferred to. As Ms. Wall wrote to Mr. Corcoran, before alerting him in May that the archives would soon hand the documents to the F.B.I., “The question in this case is not a close one.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">“The executive branch here is seeking access to records belonging to, and in the custody of, the federal government itself,” Ms. Wall wrote, “not only in order to investigate whether those records were handled in an unlawful manner but also, as the national security division explained, to ‘conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">Mr. Solomon’s decision to release the letter did more than confirm that Mr. Trump had kept some of the country’s most highly guarded secrets in his relatively unsecured beachfront club in Florida. It also revealed that well before Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued in their court filing on Monday that many of the records were protected by executive privilege, the same argument had been rejected by the White House and a top official at the Justice Department.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The court filing also appeared at times to make arguments that could ultimately harm Mr. Trump.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">One long section of the motion, “President Donald J. Trump’s Voluntary Assistance,” was devoted to portraying him as having fully cooperated with the archives and the Justice Department from the outset. But read in a slightly different manner, the facts laid out in the section could be construed as evidence that Mr. Trump had instead obstructed the investigation into the documents.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">The section noted how he willingly returned the first batch of 15 boxes to the archives, then — one day after Ms. Wall’s letter was sent to Mr. Corcoran — “accepted service of a grand jury subpoena” seeking to reclaim more documents with “classification markings.”</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">It also described how even after a top national security prosecutor went to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the papers sought by the subpoena, the Justice Department felt compelled to issue a second subpoena. That was for surveillance camera footage at the property, suggesting that prosecutors were concerned that Mr. Trump and his lawyers had not been entirely forthcoming.</p><div><br /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-21596996546413389102022-08-23T16:15:00.001-04:002022-08-23T16:15:21.706-04:00IRS launches security review after threats, misinformation on social media<p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI" data-testid="paragraph-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #404040; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 2.22222vw; max-width: 720px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;">David Lawder via Reuters</span></p><p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI" data-testid="paragraph-0" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #404040; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 2.22222vw; max-width: 720px; padding: 0px;">WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is reviewing safety and security measures in response to an "abundance" of threats and misinformation on social media about the agency and its employees, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a staff memo released on Tuesday.</p><p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI" data-testid="paragraph-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #404040; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 2.22222vw 0px; max-width: 720px; padding: 0px;">Rettig said the steps include new risk assessments, monitoring perimeter security at facilities, designating restricted areas and reassessing exterior lighting and entrance security. The actions follow "an abundance of misinformation and false social media postings, some of them with threats directed at the IRS and its employees," he said.</p><p class="text__text__1FZLe text__dark-grey__3Ml43 text__regular__2N1Xr text__large__nEccO body__base__22dCE body__large_body__FV5_X article-body__element__2p5pI" data-testid="paragraph-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #404040; font-family: knowledge-regular, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 2.22222vw 0px; max-width: 720px; padding: 0px;">Last week, President Joe Biden signed into law a sweeping climate, drugs and tax package that provides the IRS with $80 billion in new funding to beef up compliance and service over the next decade. The provision has prompted Republicans to claim that the IRS is hiring an "army" of 87,000 new agents to police tax collections</p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-67551743545561106552022-08-09T17:29:00.002-04:002022-08-09T17:29:52.905-04:00Why the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago feels like a shift in the tectonic legal plates<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">From MSNBC.com by Glenn Kirschner,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> <span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a;">A legal barrier of sorts has been broken: </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-mar-lago-home-was-raided-large-group-fbi-agents-rcna42133" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The FBI obtained and executed a search warrant</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a;"> on the home of a former president of the United States. This represents the kind of maiden legal voyage by the Department of Justice that has been prompted by the conduct of Donald J. Trump.</span></span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">There are few things we know — and much we don’t know — about Monday’s search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida home. Let’s start with what we do know.</span></p><div id="taboolaReadMoreBelow" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a;"></div><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">First, the decision to request a search warrant was undoubtedly vetted through the uppermost ranks of the Justice Department, likely all the way through Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Attorney General Merrick Garland.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Second, a federal judge authorized this search. When the FBI, an agency within the Justice Department, decides that a search warrant should be pursued as part of a criminal investigation, agents will draft and swear to the truthfulness and accuracy of an affidavit in support of a search warrant. That sworn affidavit will include evidence the agents believe satisfies the burden of proof for warrants to be issued: probable cause.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Whereas precisely defining what evidence satisfies the probable cause standard is challenging, we know it lies somewhere between “reasonable articulable suspicion,” the standard set by the Supreme Court for an officer to “stop and frisk” an individual, and a preponderance of the evidence, that is, more likely than not. Importantly, the preponderance of the evidence standard is <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">higher</em> than the probable cause standard (which is the standard to issue search warrants, arrest warrants and grand jury indictments).</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">An FBI agent submits an affidavit in support of a search warrant to federal prosecutors for review. As the chief of the homicide section in the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office, I reviewed countless affidavits to determine whether they contained adequate evidence of probable cause. If I determined they did, I signed the search warrant application paperwork, and the agent was then permitted to meet with the judge to formally apply for the warrant. However, if I determined the affidavit contained insufficient evidence of probable cause, I would inform the agent that additional evidence would be necessary before I would authorize the warrant application. So in a very real sense, prosecutors put their names and reputations on the line when making the weighty decisions to approve applications for search warrants.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Once given the go-ahead by a federal prosecutor, the FBI agent presents the application for the search warrant to a federal judge. Judges often will ask follow-up questions about the evidence contained in the affidavit. I imagine the judge who reviewed a search warrant application for the home of a former president having more questions than usual. Although the legal standard doesn’t change based on the nature of the place to be searched, because the request was to search presidential property, I suspect the agents and prosecutors had very strong evidence, likely well above probable cause.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It’s clear that the judge agreed with the evidentiary assessments of both the agent and the prosecutor that there was reason to believe there was evidence of a crime at Mar-a-Lago. Hence, the judge authorized law enforcement agents to conduct the search.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">This beat-by-beat breakdown of what goes into obtaining a search warrant is important to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/republicans-lash-justice-department-fbi-searches-trumps-mar-lago-home-rcna42139" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">combat the disinformation</a> <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-mar-lago-home-was-raided-large-group-fbi-agents-rcna42133" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); box-sizing: border-box; color: #3061ff; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">already being put out by Trump</a>. He issued a statement Monday, the content of which ranges from misleading to comical. He says the “raid” on his “beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago” was “unannounced.” First, it wasn’t a raid. It was a court-authorized search warrant. As for it being “unannounced,” <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">every</em> search warrant is unannounced, so the occupants don’t have an opportunity to move or destroy evidence. I’ll leave his assertion that his home is “beautiful” to the eye of the beholder.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Trump then absurdly compares a court-authorized search warrant to the Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What do we not know? We don’t know what agents were looking for. There is some reporting that this search warrant is related to Trump’s unauthorized removal of government documents and records from the White House to Mar-a-Lago. This makes some intuitive sense given the location of the search. But consider: The National Archives reportedly retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago in January and had been negotiating with Trump for months before that for the return of those records. So, law enforcement authorities have known about Trump’s possible misconduct in this regard for a long time. Why seek search warrants for improperly retained documents now?</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It may be because the documents are classified and raise national security concerns. If the lengthy negotiations with the National Archives did not result in Trump relinquishing the documents, it seems imminently reasonable, indeed necessary, for the FBI to obtain them via a search warrant.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Moreover,<em style="box-sizing: border-box;"> if</em> a crime has been committed involving the removal, retention or concealment of government records, it could have serious consequences for those involved. There have not been any arrests or indictments of anyone regarding documents taken to Mar-a-Lago, but if anyone <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">is</em> charged with and convicted of concealment or removal of government records, part of the authorized punishment includes “forfeit[ing] his office and be[ing] disqualified from holding any office under the United States,” pursuant to 18 United States Code, section 2071.</span></p><p class="" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Some might say that it would be hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump himself “removed” or “concealed” the documents. Indeed, it is hard to envision Trump himself packing up boxes as he was leaving the White House before Joe Biden’s inauguration. But here is where Trump’s every statement and press release is potentially useful evidence for federal prosecutors. In Trump’s Aug. 8 missive, he says of FBI agents, “They even broke into my safe!” In the event illegally concealed government documents were found in “his” safe and there’s an indictment that follows, then this Trump admission will be quite helpful at trial. In the long run, Trump may prove to be his own worst enemy.</span></p><p class="endmark" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1.5rem 0px 0px;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Even if the Mar-a-Lago search warrant is “only” about Trump illegally possessing government documents, if feels like a shift in the tectonic legal plates. With Garland’s Justice Department reaching the conclusion that it’s time to begin using search warrants as part of its criminal investigation of a former president, it seems that things may be snowballing in the direction of accountability, and maybe even justice.</span></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-90227092928086059582022-08-09T17:18:00.003-04:002022-08-09T17:18:58.927-04:00Fox repeatedly mentions Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton after FBI search Trump's Mar-a-Lago<p> </p><ul class="field field--name-field-stories-content field--type-entity-reference-revisions field--label-hidden l--gutter-pull narrative-list" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; list-style: none; margin: 0px -49.9531px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li class="narrative-list__item-bullet narrative-list__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 49.9531px 3rem; position: relative;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;">From Media Matters by ROB SAVILLO</p></li><li class="narrative-list__item-bullet narrative-list__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 49.9531px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px;">Since <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/mar-a-lago-search-warrant-fbi-donald-trump/index.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">news broke</a> that the FBI executed a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Fox News has incessantly invoked Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton in its reporting.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The network has mentioned Biden at least 58 times and Clinton at least 46 times since 7 p.m. ET yesterday while MSNBC and CNN each mentioned Biden at least once and Clinton at least 13 and 8 times, respectively.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Fox contributors and guests were quick to bring up Biden and Clinton in conversations about the breaking news. Appearing on <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Tucker Carlson Tonight</em>, Fox contributor Lara Trump ignorantly <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/lara-trump/fox-news-contributor-donald-trumps-daughter-law-lara-trump-says-mar-lago-raid-about" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">claimed</a> that “nobody bats an eyelash about” Clinton deleting emails. On <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em>, former Trump acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992096" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">complained</a> that there is “a continued two-tiered system of justice where people like Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, and others get away, it appears, with nothing for consequences for their activities.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">The FBI investigation reportedly centers on the mishandling of presidential records, and possibly classified documents, brought to Trump’s home after his presidential term ended. The National Archives, which handles all such material, previously <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/07/trump-records-mar-a-lago/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; margin-bottom: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">recovered</a> 15 boxes from the estate.</p></div></div></li><li class="narrative-list__item-bullet narrative-list__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 49.9531px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" data-align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><img alt="Fox News mentions of “Hunter Biden” and “Hillary Clinton”" height="972" loading="lazy" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2022/08/09/mentionws-of-hunter-biden-and-hillary-clinton.png?VersionId=NF2T_Pqf9ISakMliw_STuppiMQWed4g8&itok=QAEeXQXX" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; width: 649.516px;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="1024" /><figcaption class="media-player__caption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"></figcaption></figure></div></div></li><li class="narrative-list__item-divider narrative-list__item" id="paragraph--section-heading--3437539" style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; padding: 0px 49.9531px 3rem; position: relative;"><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--section-heading paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;"><h2 class="field field--name-field-section-heading-text field--type-string field--label-hidden section-heading" style="background-color: #e5fbff; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 0.9rem; line-height: 1.33333; margin: 0px -99.9219px; padding: 2.1rem 99.9219px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">Methodology</span></h2></div></li></ul>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-21059634198385095792022-08-09T17:13:00.000-04:002022-08-09T17:13:11.106-04:00Conservatives use Trump’s Mar-a-Lago search to scare audiences into falling in line behind their proto-fascism<p> From Media Matters by JOHN KNEFEL </p><p><span style="color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;">Right-wing media figures have reacted to the news that the FBI</span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/08/us/trump-fbi-raid/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago?smid=url-share" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">searched</a><span style="color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"> </span><span style="color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;">former President Donald Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago resort by calling for mass purges of any individual or agency they deem responsible for holding the former president, his associates, or his supporters accountable for their potentially criminal actions.</span></p><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; outline: 0px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">This new development turns the right’s recent history of election denialism and January 6 revisionism into an all-encompassing electoral strategy in the coming midterms and 2024 presidential election. Conservative media is drawing a line in the sand and calling for total fealty to Trump. Any deviation is tantamount to treason.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">“The next president of the United States needs to prosecute everyone. Needs to clean house everywhere,” conservative YouTuber Steven Crowder <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/youtube-steven-crowder-demands-all-republicans-support-dismantling-fbi-and-all" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">said</a>. “Any Republican right now in office or running for office who does not actively champion the defunding, the dismantling of our intelligence agencies, I will not vote for.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">“The term skeleton crew should be a generous application to what the FBI will be when the next president is through with him,” Crowder continued.</p></div></div><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial" data-align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -3px; transform: translateX(0px); z-index: 11;"><span class="mejs__time-handle-content" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); border-radius: 50%; border: 4px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; height: 10px; left: -7px; position: absolute; top: -3px; transform: scale(0); width: 10px; z-index: 11;"></span></span></span></div><div class="mejs__time mejs__duration-container" style="box-sizing: content-box; color: #788592; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; height: 24px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 0.9rem 0px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 16px 1.5rem 0px 6px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: auto;"><span class="mejs__duration" style="box-sizing: border-box;">08:08</span></div><div class="mejs__button mejs__volume-button mejs__mute" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 0.6rem 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 32px;"><button aria-controls="mep_0" aria-label="Mute" style="appearance: none; 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background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/expand.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 10px 6px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 20px;" tabindex="0" title="Fullscreen" type="button"></button></div><div class="mejs__button mejs__share-button" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; width: 32px;"><button aria-controls="mep_0" aria-label="Share" style="appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/share.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 10px 6px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 20px;" tabindex="0" title="Share" type="button">SHARE</button></div></div></div></div></div></div><figcaption class="media-player__caption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><p class="block-quote__citation" style="background-color: #161c24; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 0.8rem; margin: 0px; padding: 1rem 1.5rem;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;">Citation</span><cite style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">From the August 9, 2022, edition of <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Louder with Crowder</em>, streamed on YouTube</cite></p></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing radio host Jesse Kelly simultaneously <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/jesse-kelly/after-mar-lago-search-right-wing-radio-host-calls-defunding-fbi-and-investigations" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">called</a> for defunding the FBI and investigating Republicans’ political enemies.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/center-renewing-america-preparing-next-republican-administration-govern" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Russ Vought</a>, a Christian nationalist and former director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump, echoed the point on Fox News’ <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">“They are now telling with clear and convincing evidence to a Republican political class that has been unwilling to fight back against this with the leverage that they have,” Vought <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992063" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">said</a>. “And I think this is a wake-up call for those in Congress to be able to use the tools at their disposal to defund the FBI, to ask the right questions, and to prepare for a Church-style commission next year, if given a Republican majority, to dismantle the FBI into a thousand bits.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Fox News was also quick to link the Mar-a-Lago search with <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/fox-host-claims-irs-has-been-militarized" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">recent news</a> that the IRS is getting additional funding to go after wealthy individuals and corporations.</p></div></div><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-image paragraph--view-mode--editorial" data-align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; margin-left: -49.9531px; margin-right: -49.9531px;"><div class="field field--name-field-stories-image field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media media--image" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><img alt="Ingraham IRS to FBI" height="576" loading="lazy" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/styles/scale_w1024/s3/static/D8Image/2022/08/09/the-ingraham-angle-10_00_01-pm-2022-08-08t195326.818.jpg?VersionId=ayyaPBVDQk4qRoymsQCWK50lEp1MqQMa&itok=ErsfIW5X" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; width: 749.422px;" typeof="foaf:Image" width="1024" /><figcaption class="media-player__caption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><p class="block-quote__citation" style="background-color: #161c24; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 0.8rem; margin: 0px; padding: 1rem 1.5rem;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;">Citation</span><cite style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">From the August 8, 2022, edition of Fox News' <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Ingraham Angle</em></cite></p></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Though those topics appear disconnected, right-wing media outlets have spent months claiming that conservatives are being singled out by the FBI and IRS for politically motivated prosecution, a manufactured narrative with no evidence to support it. They’re now latching onto this latest development to escalate that rhetoric and whip <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-furiously-poisoning-well-after-mar-lago-search" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">conservative voters into a frenzy</a> in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections, with many claiming that President Joe Biden targeted Trump personally or that Trump was the victim of a deep state “witch hunt.”</p></div></div><div class="l--gutter-pull paragraph paragraph--type--stories-web-video paragraph--view-mode--editorial" data-align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px; margin-left: -49.9531px; margin-right: -49.9531px;"><div class="erd-list--editorial-embed field field--name-field-stories-web-video field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="media-player media-player--video" role="group" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; width: 749.422px;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-video-file field--type-file field--label-visually_hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field__label visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); font-weight: bold; height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;">Video file</div><div class="field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="mejs__offscreen" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Video Player</span><div aria-label="Video Player" class="mejs__container mejs__container-keyboard-inactive mediaelementjs media-player--inline mejs__video" id="mep_1" role="application" style="background: rgb(58, 67, 78); box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; min-width: 317px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 421.547px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 749.422px;" tabindex="0"><div class="mejs__inner" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="mejs__mediaelement" style="align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; height: 421.547px; justify-content: center; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 749.422px; z-index: 0;"><mediaelementwrapper id="mejs_5458183400945633" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 421.547px; width: 749.422px;"><video class="mediaelementjs media-player--inline" data-media-id="3992031" data-mejsembed="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3992031/embed/embed" height="480" id="mejs_5458183400945633_html5" preload="none" src="https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8Video/2022/08/09/fnchd_fox-and-friends_2022-08-09-06_00_01-am.mp4?VersionId=thLWwuy_32QHxL4HmhcnDW5v3epNQqKS" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 421.547px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 749.422px;" width="640"></video></mediaelementwrapper></div><div class="mejs__layers" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="mejs__poster mejs__layer" style="background-image: url("https://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/D8Video/2022/08/09/fox-and-friends-trump-fbi-raid-deep-state-06_00_01-am.jpg?VersionId=CRuei3wb.vQkMU9FwVWcXjk6IIciFw6_"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; box-sizing: border-box; height: 421.547px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 749.422px; z-index: 1;"></div><div class="mejs__overlay mejs__layer mejs__overlay-play" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-box-pack: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: flex; height: 421.547px; justify-content: center; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; width: 749.422px; z-index: 1;"><div aria-label="Play" aria-pressed="false" class="mejs__overlay-button" role="button" style="background: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/play.svg") 0px 0px / cover no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; height: 6.2rem; transition: overlay 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 6.2rem;" tabindex="0"></div></div></div><div class="mejs__controls mejs__offscreen" style="align-items: center; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(22, 28, 36); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); display: flex; height: 3rem; left: 0px; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 1.5rem; position: absolute; width: 749.422px; z-index: 3;"><div class="mejs__button mejs__playpause-button mejs__play" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 3rem; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 0px -1rem; width: 3rem;"><button aria-controls="mep_1" aria-label="Play" style="appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/play.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 3rem; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 3rem;" tabindex="0" title="Play" type="button"></button></div><div aria-live="off" class="mejs__time mejs__currenttime-container" role="timer" style="box-sizing: content-box; color: #788592; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; height: 24px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 16px 6px 0px; text-align: center; width: auto;"><span class="mejs__currenttime" style="box-sizing: border-box;">00:00</span></div><div class="mejs__time-rail" style="-webkit-box-flex: 1; box-sizing: border-box; direction: ltr; flex-grow: 1; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 10px; padding-top: 10px; position: relative; width: 32px;"><span aria-label="Time Slider" aria-valuemax="69.771" aria-valuemin="0" aria-valuenow="0" aria-valuetext="00:00" class="mejs__time-total mejs__time-slider" role="slider" style="background: rgb(120, 133, 146); border-radius: 0.3rem; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 0.3rem; margin: 8px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; position: absolute; width: 386.578px;" tabindex="0"><span class="mejs__time-loaded" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3); border-radius: 0.3rem; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 0.3rem; left: 0px; position: absolute; transform-origin: 0px 0px; transform: scaleX(0.0990239); transition: all 0.15s ease-in 0s; width: 386.578px;"></span><span class="mejs__time-current" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); border-radius: 0.3rem; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 0.3rem; left: 0px; position: absolute; transform-origin: 0px 0px; transform: scaleX(0); transition: all 0.15s ease-in 0s; width: 386.578px;"></span><span class="mejs__time-hovered no-hover" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); border-radius: 0.3rem; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 0.3rem; left: 0px; position: absolute; transform-origin: 0px 0px; transform: scaleX(0) !important; transition: height 0.1s cubic-bezier(0.44, 0, 1, 1) 0s; width: 386.578px; z-index: 10;"></span><span class="mejs__time-handle" style="border: 4px solid transparent; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: -3px; transform: translateX(0px); z-index: 11;"><span class="mejs__time-handle-content" style="background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); border-radius: 50%; border: 4px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.9); box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; height: 10px; left: -7px; position: absolute; top: -3px; transform: scale(0); width: 10px; z-index: 11;"></span></span></span></div><div class="mejs__time mejs__duration-container" style="box-sizing: content-box; color: #788592; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; height: 24px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 0.9rem 0px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 16px 1.5rem 0px 6px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: auto;"><span class="mejs__duration" style="box-sizing: border-box;">01:09</span></div><div class="mejs__button mejs__volume-button mejs__mute" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px 0.6rem 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 32px;"><button aria-controls="mep_1" aria-label="Mute" style="appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/volume.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 0.6rem; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 20px;" tabindex="0" title="Mute" type="button"></button></div><div class="mejs__button mejs__fullscreen-button" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; width: 32px;"><button aria-controls="mep_1" aria-label="Fullscreen" style="appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/expand.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 10px 6px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 20px;" tabindex="0" title="Fullscreen" type="button"></button></div><div class="mejs__button mejs__share-button" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 10px; height: 40px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; width: 32px;"><button aria-controls="mep_1" aria-label="Share" style="appearance: none; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url("/themes/custom/mmfa_theme/images/icons/player/share.svg"); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: cover; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 20px; letter-spacing: 2px; line-height: 0; margin: 10px 6px; outline: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-transform: uppercase; transition: background-color 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; width: 20px;" tabindex="0" title="Share" type="button">SHARE</button></div></div></div></div></div></div><figcaption class="media-player__caption block-quote block-quote--minor" style="background-color: #eff3f7; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"><p class="block-quote__citation" style="background-color: #161c24; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-size: 0.8rem; margin: 0px; padding: 1rem 1.5rem;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); height: 1px; overflow-wrap: normal; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; width: 1px;">Citation</span><cite style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">From the August 9, 2022, edition of Fox News' <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Fox & Friends</em></cite></p></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">But beyond the defenses of Trump as an individual, many on the right attempted to turn what appears to be a lawful investigation of a powerful person into a story of David and Goliath, with the former president cast as the underdog against an all-powerful state set on eliminating its opponents.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In this Bizarro World version of events, Trump is the canary in the coal mine. If the FBI could search his house, the argument goes, then that meant that no conservative was safe. “The real target of this investigation isn't Trump,” <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/laura-ingraham/laura-ingraham-calls-mar-lago-search-deep-states-revenge" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">said</a> Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “The real target of this investigation is you or anyone who dares to call out and take on the rank corruption of the D.C. establishment.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Right-wing radio host Buck Sexton offered almost the exact same talking point. “They’re sending a message now to President Trump and his supporters that they’ll come for you if you stand against the machine,” Sexton <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/buck-sexton/fox-news-guest-likens-fbi-search-mar-lago-preemptive-coup-caesar-crossing-rubicon-and" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">said</a>. “This is a chilling moment in the country's history.”</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Others on the right put forward a related argument that Trump is being targeted by the FBI specifically because he stands as the lone protector of the forgotten man.</p></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--twitter-tweet paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="field field--name-field-twitter-tweet field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="social-media social-media--twitter_tweet" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; justify-content: center; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="field field--name-field-media-twitter field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto !important; margin-right: auto !important; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 550px; width: 500px;"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" class="" data-tweet-id="1556986063247314944" frameborder="0" id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=true&id=1556986063247314944&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fdonald-trump%2Fconservatives-use-trumps-mar-lago-search-scare-audiences-falling-line-behind-their&sessionId=3c1f43fa695a5e0ad0e2cd1bfe2611c0ea3260d6&siteScreenName=mmfa&theme=light&widgetsVersion=b7df0f50e1ec1%3A1659558317797&width=550px" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; flex-grow: 1; height: 703px; margin: 0px auto; position: static; visibility: visible; width: 500px;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe></div></div></figure></div></div><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3a434e; font-family: Barlow, sans-serif; font-size: 19.2px;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Both of these claims are a way of turning any attempt to hold Trump accountable for crimes he may have committed into an imagined assault on his faux-populist supporters. If “they” – an unnamed, state-sponsored enemy – can target someone relatively as powerful as Trump, then “you” – the right-wing media consumer – will soon be ground to dust by the same forces. Trump’s legal battles, then, aren’t his alone. They belong to his entire movement.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Conservative pundits have spent months recently laying this groundwork, though a larger persecution narrative on the right goes back decades. In the days prior to the Mar-a-Lago search, conservatives <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-medias-conspiracy-theory-militarized-irs-really-about-protecting-wealthy-donors" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">reacted</a> to news that landmark legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act would include $80 billion for the IRS by claiming the new funding would turn the agency into a militarized, political police force. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The reality is the exact opposite. The new funding is specifically <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/06/inflation-reduction-act-irs/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">designed</a> to provide the IRS the resources it needs to target powerful people and organizations, instead of the low-hanging fruit the agency has gone after following decades of conservative sabotage. Just like in the responses to the Mar-a-Lago search, however, the right reflexively transformed the issue from one of higher tax collection aimed at billionaires and transnational corporations into a wholly manufactured narrative about a supposedly out-of-control government bureaucracy coming for Trump supporters.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">“They’re going to weaponize the IRS, use the government to intimidate every single Trump supporter and MAGA supporter in America,” conservative pundit John Fredericks <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-medias-conspiracy-theory-militarized-irs-really-about-protecting-wealthy-donors" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">said</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In July, Tucker Carlson <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/tucker-carlson/tucker-carlson-lists-trumps-coup-plotters-who-he-says-should-never-be-punished" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">devoted</a> his entire opening monologue to similarly arguing that prosecution of anyone associated with Trump’s January 6 attempted coup was, by definition, an example of totalitarian overreach. Carlson spent about 16 minutes of the most watched cable show on prime time mischaracterizing 14 investigations into right-wing media figures or politicians, positioning the FBI as an explicitly political secret police force targeting conservatives. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">“The signature tactic of the Biden administration … has been the criminalizing of American politics,” Carlson said. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Again, this characterization could not be more absurd. Both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-history-policing-left-progressive-far-right-extremism-2021-3" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">presently</a> and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/10/22/terrorism-fbi-political-dissent/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">historically</a>, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have disproportionately targeted, investigated, and prosecuted left-wing people and organizations. The FBI is more <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/fbi-donald-trump-base-230755" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">conservative</a> than the population in general, and current FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump. If anything, the United States has a history of allowing rampant lawbreaking by powerful people to go unchecked. No high-level officials involved in the torture program under President George W. Bush were ever prosecuted, for example, and many went on to successful careers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/us/politics/cia-gina-haspel-black-site.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">inside</a> and <a href="http://opiniojuris.org/2008/05/20/the-rehabilitation-of-john-yoo/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">outside</a> government.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">The conservative response to all of these developments – the Mar-a-Lago search, new IRS funding, the prosecution of insurrectionists – underscores a basic tenet of their philosophy. As the classical music composer and internet commentator Frank Wilhoit <a href="https://slate.com/business/2022/06/wilhoits-law-conservatives-frank-wilhoit.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">wrote</a> in 2018: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.” </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">This pithy remark has almost become a cliche at this point, but it explains a great deal about the last several years. Conservatives constantly claim to “back the Blue,” but when a movement can seamlessly pivot from <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/06/police-brutality-protests-blue-lives-matter/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Blue Lives Matter</a> to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mar-a-lago-raid-gop-response-defund-fbi-1394486/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">Defund the FBI</a>, there is clearly an operating principle at work other than an abstract respect for “<a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/07/what-trump-really-means-when-he-tweets-law-order" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1976d2; text-decoration-line: none; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s;">law and order</a>.” Their real commitment is to a certain kind of order – one defined by social hierarchies across race, class, and gender. </p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">Neither the FBI nor the IRS actually threaten to subvert those hierarchies, but the conservative imagination transforms them into all-powerful entities that can. Conservative pundits reacting to the Mar-a-Lago search are arguing for a system that protects them, their donors, and their sponsors, no matter the charges against them. The David versus Goliath narrative they’re now pitching to viewers is merely a useful fig leaf toward that end.</p></div></div>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-46321812882325368152022-08-09T17:04:00.002-04:002022-08-09T17:04:09.975-04:00Meltdown in stupid town<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> I admit I'm a big fan of wingnut Twitter because when wingnut Twitter gets angry and starts lashing out, they let their hypocrisy fly. From the self-hate queen, Candace Ownes, to mutant manchild Dan Bongino, they're screaming about how this country is becoming a banana republic because their beloved Orange Dummy has his lair raided by the FBI. They forget that Orange Dummy wante<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/lobbying-barr-trump-demands-prosecutions-his-political-foes-n1242613">d AG Bill Barr to indict Vice President Biden weeks before the election.</a> The idea goes back further about Trump wanting his political rivals locked up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I suspect driving the fear and rage from the right is that the guy they're defending has a history of snitching on other criminals as a get out of jail or reduced penalty card. There are probably some documents that point to other high-ranking Republican officials knowing criminal wrongdoing, and that scares them. Between the Roe decision and Republican government overreach, and President Biden and the Democrats racking up the Ws, Republicans don't need to have their former president looking like the two-bit crime boss he is.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">And if Republicans think threatening retaliation is going to boost their falling chances of winning back the house, I don't know how. If you follow me on Twitter, I've been saying this since January there's no red wave, and what happened to the Orange Dummy last night is more of that. The voters who are angry about what happened to the Orange Dummy last night are already voting Nazi in the fall.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">My prediction is when the more shit is revealed, the more it's going to damage the Republican Party.</span></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22797374.post-27271141074515710792021-10-31T10:12:00.002-04:002021-10-31T10:12:34.802-04:00Fuck it, I'm back.<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I'm back from the grave, and I have returned to do what I do best, piss off dumbass conservatives and be a thorn in the political press side. </span></p>Motor City Liberal Returnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05316739270707220559noreply@blogger.com0